![]() There clearly is no one way for Christians to end their letters."For the mystery of iniquity is already at work only he who now hinders must hinder, until he is taken out of the way" What obstacle is there but the Roman state, the falling away of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist upon ?†( On the Resurrection of the Flesh 24) One of my church members, for instance, always ends her emails with John 3.16 – whether her emails to her friends outside the church also include this verse, I do not know but if so, then I admire her Christian witness. ![]() For instance, they might end with ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. as if they were writing to a friend who is not a Christian, but then add a Bible verse after their signature. Some people sign their letters normally, i.e. The shortest ending I came across was IHG, which I discovered to stand for ‘In his grip’! And may you realize that he is very much present with you bat this very moment or ‘I truly wish that Jesus Almighty comes down on earth today especially to shower blessing and love upon you, like he has for all other beautiful human beings in the world’. May your heart be open to his spiritual and divine gifts. Some are amazingly long, if not long-winded: ‘may this day offer you just what you need in each unfolding moment, God is with you’ or ‘May you get a taste of God’s never dying love for you. Then there are more up-beat ways of ending a letter: ‘celebrate life!’ ‘cheerfully in Christ’ ‘grace abounds’ or ‘watching God work’. Other variants on the love theme include ‘love, hugs, kisses, and may God be with us’ and ‘In Jesus’ love until He comes’. Some are Christian variants on ‘with love’, and wish ‘love and light’ ‘love and laughter’ ‘love and peace’ ‘love, peace, joy’ or ‘love, peace, happiness’. So I went on the web and discovered a host of possibilities. ![]() But then, as far as I am concerned, neither do greetings such as ‘Yours in him’, or ‘Yours because his’ nor indeed do ‘with Christian love’ or ‘with spiritual love’. So how might we end a letter to a Christian friend? ‘Grace and peace’ is, of course, a standard greeting found in the New Testament – but somehow it does not have a natural feel to it. ![]() ‘Regards’ to my way of thinking is totally devoid of warmth – ‘kind regards would be better’ but neither has any Christian content to it. She simply signs off her letters with ‘regards’. Christians shouldn’t wish something for another, rather we should ask God to bless our friends.įrom that you might assume that she ends her letters with ‘blessings’, ‘many blessings, or even ‘brightest blessings’! But she doesn’t. It’s not right for Christians to send best wishes. Recently, however, a colleague challenged the way I sign off letters. ‘Will all good wishes’, for instance, does not sound right in a letter to somebody who has lost a loved one – on those occasions I normally end ‘warmly yours’. True, in certain circumstances I alter the greeting. What’s the best way of ending a letter to a Christian friend? I confess that my standard greeting is the simple ‘with all good wishes’. ![]()
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