Day 281.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (GAL 1:3-5 ESV)
Paul extends grace and peace to his letter’s recipients as these are things won by the sacrifice of Christ which the Father ordained. But notice the way Paul writes of them. They are given to deliver us from the present evil age. This reference of a “present” age indicates there is a future age ahead, an age not marked by the evil of this age. We grow so accustomed to life in this age we forget that it is evil (until some event occurs to remind us) and so we settle, as it were, and lose sight of something more grand. And yet, it is the vision of a redeemed and glorious age that fuels us now.
