1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In relation to this verse I quote from my professor Dr. Gordon D. Fee: "It is worth noting that this is the invariable order of Paul’s words, not 'grace and peace to you’ as in most translations. Very likely there is significance to this order: the grace of God and Christ is what is given to God’s people; peace is what results from such a gift. Hence, 'grace to you - and peace.’ In a profound sense this greeting therefore nicely represents Paul’s larger theological perspective. The sum total of God’s activity toward His human creatures is found in the word 'grace’; God has given Himself to His people bountifully and mercifully in Christ. Nothing is deserved, nothing can be achieved. The sum total of those benefits as they are experienced by the recipients of God’s grace is 'peace,’ God’s eschatological shalom , both now and to come. The latter flows out of the former, and both together flow from 'God our Father’ and were made effective in our human history through our 'Lord Jesus Christ.’" ( Paul’s Letter to the Philippians - NICNT)

Lord, thank You that - though I deserved nothing at all - You have poured the riches of Your grace into my life, through Jesus Christ. And thank You for the peace and well-being that You are producing in my life as a result. Certainly You alone are the source of all true wholeness and fulfillment. Thank You for men like the apostle Paul, who cared so much that Your grace would be manifested in the lives of others. Help me to share in this spirit. Help me to long for and pray for and tirelessly work toward Your grace being poured out in the lives of those around me. May the message and the effect of my life to those around me be, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."