Reflection: This little letter ends with a list of greetings from Paul’s fellow workers who are with him and a call to remember the grace that has been shown. In a way this is a wonderfully fitting end to our walk through this short letter from Paul. We are all in this together. We have people around us who have been called into the same family, and we work together for the sake of Christ. There are times when things don’t go as we would like them to, or people hurt us.* Even in these situations, we are to remember the grace that we have each been shown. May this grace work deeply in each of you, as you seek to love your community and those around you and enable you to commit to each other.
Prayer:Â Lord God, I thank you for the grace you have shown me. I pray that I would hold fast to this grace and show this grace to those around me. Thank you for the people you have placed in my life who point me to Jesus. Enable me to do the same for others.
*For instance, from those mentioned in these verses, Mark and Paul later have a falling out (see Acts 15:36-41) and Demas abandons Paul altogether (see 2 Timothy 4:10).