WISHES FOR OTHERS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.

Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Ephesians 6:18-20

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Letter and card writing are becoming a lost art these days, I’m afraid. In the age of digital communication, short texts or social media posts have become all the rage, even supplanting emails. And although the old saying, “It’s the thought that counts”, is true, still I believe a lot gets lost from when we used to send hand written notes to others.

I think we see this at times when we look at the scriptures and see how people like the Apostle Paul corresponded with others, particularly in his case the churches founded during his missionary period of service.

Since the end of January, we have been looking at Paul’s epistle (letter) to the Christian believers in Ephesus, Christ followers known as the Ephesians. Overall, it is a letter of encouragement, one stressing the importance of church unity and morality of its members, whether Jew or Gentile.

Paul would have liked to visit the Ephesian Christians in person but it wasn’t possible because he was incarcerated in a Roman prison and so he sent the letter via his “dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord”, a man named Tychicus. He was a trusted friend of the Apostle and appears four other places in the New Testament outside of here at the end of Ephesians.

Go to Paul’s third missionary journey and you will find Tychicus in party with him (Acts 20:4). There we learn that Paul’s devoted companion was from Asia.

Paul also wrote his letters to the Colossians and to Philemon from prison, again using Tychicus as his messenger to both parties.

Finally, we find Tychicus as one of two men who Paul was considering to send to Crete to stand in for Titus so he could visit Paul (Titus 3:12). We also see in 2 Timothy that Paul did send Tychicus to Ephesus to free up Timothy to go to the Apostle, he mentor in ministry (2 Timothy 4:12). Both of these accounts show us that Tychicus also had pastoral abilities that Paul trusted.

So we know now about who Paul selected to carry his letter to the Ephesians and we know why that had to happen. This leaves us now with his final words as he signs off and finishes. Look again at these wonderful desires he had for the believers of Ephesus:

Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. Ephesians 6:23-24

Note the three wishes he had for the Ephesian Christians, wishes we should show to everyone we correspond with.

First, Paul hopes for peace to be upon his “brothers and sisters”.

We all yearn for peace. Everyone wants to be in a place where there is no anxiety, worry, stress, or fear and so we should always be in prayer for one another in this regard. We should ask for peace to be upon others, a peace that transcends all human understanding, a peace that only comes when we place our full faith and trust in our Lord, the Prince of peace.

Indeed, we find faith front and center within Paul’s second wish for the Ephesian believers as he asks for the steadfast love of God and Jesus to be upon them. This love isn’t like any love shared human to human. Rather, it is a perfect love that never fails. Like peace, all people cherish and covet a pure and consistent love. We only find this through the Father and His Son.

Finally, we see the Apostle petition for grace to be on all his brothers and sisters who pledged their undying love to Jesus, the One who saved them. For as Paul had reminded the Ephesians earlier in his letter, it was by grace and grace alone that they were saved, not works (2:8-9). In other words, salvation came to them simply by placing their belief in Jesus as Savior, nothing more.

As we finish this letter, Paul has three wishes for his Christian brothers and sisters in Ephesus: peace, love, and grace. Let these be our hope for others as well as we seek to encourage and bless with our words, whether written or spoken.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com