God and you

Day 82

'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 6:21-24

Well, this is it. The final day in our look through Ephesians. And in reading through this verse, I have been reminded that Ephesians wasn't written by some Holy Angel up in Heaven. Ephesians is a letter, a letter from a guy, a bloke, to a normal church in Ephesus. And as you can see, he also wrote that he sent this person, Tychicus, to basically tell them how he was doing. Not to reveal some huge secret, but to just say, 'oh yeah, Paul's doing fine'. That's the sort of thing normal people tell each other. But wait, they were normal people! The people in Ephesus weren't some elite group. They were just like you and me!

OK, so I bet you're wondering, how does this make any difference to us? But it just shows that as Christians, we are a community, a community of people who aren't a select group, but just normal. You don't need to act differently in Church, or when you're around other Christians. Paul acted normally when he was writing this letter - not making it all special and holy or anything, but saying how he was doing and stuff like that! Of course, he would have been in prison at the time, but still. It just proves that you don't need to wear a mask when you are around other people who believe in God.

And to add to the fact that we are a community, the verse says 'Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.' This is pretty much like saying, 'good luck and follow God's instructions'. Paul was addressing the whole of Christianity here, I think, not just the people in Ephesus. And so I will address the whole of Christianity (OK, well, like the 0.0000000000001% that will read this) when I finish of this section on Ephesians. Have peace wherever you go, and love everyone. Keep believing in God's word!

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you for Ephesians. Thank you for community, and Church, and friends, both Christian and non-Christian. Please help me to know that I do not need to wear a mask in Church, but I can be who I am. Please bless the community of Christianity, and Christians worldwide.

Amen