Daily Devotional for Monday, May 26

Paul’s Personal Greetings

“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours,”

1 Corinthians 1:2.

Have you ever received a letter or a package in the mail and were excited to see who it was from, what it was about, or what was in the package? While letters are not so common anymore as they have been replaced by emails, text messages and other forms of communication, it still excites us to get a message or a card from a special friend or family member. If you have been waiting for an important message or package from someone, it seems to be all the more important and you eagerly wait for it.

In this letter to the church at Corinth, Paul greeted them by letting them know that this letter was from an apostle called by Jesus Christ. By identifying himself in this way, the reader would know that this was going to be a special message from God. In this greeting, Paul also referred to them in the church as people that were sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints. This letter would not only be written from a special person sent from God, but it was sent to people with a special calling on their lives as children of God and members of the Lord’s New Testament church in Corinth. This greeting to those special people also sent God’s greeting to them, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 3).

THOUGHT

Are you ready for the message from the Lord? “I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly” (Psalms 85:8).

Tim Chambers