October 17

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. — 1 Pet 1:2 BSB

When we see and feel how much we need grace every moment of our lives, we begin to understand the beauty of asking for it in an overflowing, abundant measure. We can’t even walk down the street without sinning. Our carnal minds, filled with vain imaginations, are constantly on the lookout for evil. Sin presents itself at every turn, lurking like a thief waiting for an opportunity to strike. In our fallen nature, unless restrained and influenced by grace, we sin with almost every breath we take. Therefore, we need grace upon grace, or, as the text says, grace to be “multiplied” in proportion to our sins. But I would say, not just in proportion, for if sin abounds—and to our shame and sorrow we know it does—then we need grace to abound even more. When the deep tide of sin flows in, bringing its mud and filth, we need the high tide of grace to rise even higher, washing away the slime into the depths of the ocean, never to be found again.

Thus, we need grace—free grace—today, tomorrow, this moment, the next moment, all day long. We need grace to heal, revive, restore, save, and sanctify. We need grace multiplied to match all our needs, woes, sins, slips, falls, and constant backslidings. We need grace to believe, grace to hope, grace to love, grace to fight, grace to conquer, grace to stand, grace to live, and grace to die. Every moment of our lives we need grace to keep us, support us, hold us, and protect us. As one godly man said, “If the Lord leaves us for one moment, He leaves us for one moment too long.”

But to “grace” the Apostle also adds “peace.” Sin disrupts our peace and puts distance between our souls and God. Trials, temptations, sins, and sorrows all come daily to disturb our rest, so we need peace to be multiplied as well. Peace like a river, constantly flowing; peace like the sea, with tides that, though they may ebb, always rise higher than they fall. We need peace to anchor our hearts in the truth and in the love of it, keeping us from being tossed around by every wind of doctrine. When we are entangled in Satan’s snares, we need peace to be restored. When sin breaks our peace and fills us with guilt and fear, we need peace to heal those wounds and firmly establish us in the gospel of peace.

And when the time comes for us to walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death, we will need “peace to be multiplied,” so that we can fear no evil and find comfort in God’s staff and support in His rod. We can never have too much grace or too much peace. The more we know of sin, the more we will need grace; and the more we know of sorrow, the more we will need peace.