The Life That's Left Is Future Grace

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:3

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
1 Corinthians 16:23

The only life I have left to live is future life. The past is not in my hands to offer or alter. It is gone. Not even God will change the past. All the expectations of God are future expectations. All the possibilities of faith and love are future possibilities. And all the power that touches me with help to live in love is future power. As precious as the bygone blessings of God may be, if he leaves me only with the memory of those, and not with the promise of more, I will be undone. My hope for future goodness and future glory is future grace.

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Without exception the blessings at the beginning of Paul's letters say "Grace [be] to you," while the blessings at the end of the letters say, "Grace [be] with you." This is so consistent through thirteen letters that it must mean something.

The meaning I would suggest is this: at the beginning of his letters Paul has in mind that the letter itself is a channel of Gods' grace to the readers. Grace is about to flow "from God" through Paul's writing to the Christians. So he says, "Grace to you." That is, grace is now active and is about to flow from God through my inspired writing to you as you read--"grace [be] to you."

But as the end of the letter approaches, Paul realizes that the reading is almost finished and the question rises, "What becomes of the grace that has been flowing to the readers through the reading of the inspired letter?" He answers with a blessing at the end of every letter: "Grace [be] with you." With you as you put the letter away and leave the church. With you as you go home to deal with a sick child and an unaffectionate spouse. With you as you go to work and face the temptations of anger and dishonesty and lust. With you as you muster courage to speak up for Christ over lunch.

What then do we learn from Paul's unbroken pattern of beginning and ending his letters in this way ("Grace be to you." "Grace be with you.")? We learn that grace is an unmistakable priority in the Christian life. We learn that it is from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, but that it can come through people. We learn that grace is ready to flow to us every time we take up the inspired Scriptures to read them. And we learn that grace will abide with us when we lay down and go about our daily living.

In other words, we learn that grace is not merely a past reality but a future one. Every time I reach for the Bible, God's grace is a reality that will flow to me. Every time I put the Bible down and go about my business, God's grace will go with me. This is what I mean by future grace.

--John Piper, Future Grace, p.65-67

I don't know about you, but this makes me all the more eager to take up the Scriptures in order to "be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:1).