Recently, I’ve been reading and studying the book of Ephesians. Today, I stopped at the first verse of chapter one: “…I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.” “Faithful followers” stopped me in my tracks.

Paul’s description of his audience as “faithful followers” seemed to have significance. I started wondering how Paul opened his other letters. Here are a few examples:

“..all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people” (Romans      1:7 NLT).

“… sending this letter to the churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2 NLT).

“I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons” (Philippians 1:1 NLT).

“We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 2 Thessalonians 1:1).

“I am writing to Timothy, my dear son” (1 Timothy and 2 Timothy).

In our technological age, most people have lost the art of letter writing. Text messages use as few words as possible and many emails, if they use a greeting, often just use a person’s name. Maybe that is why Paul’s salutation or greeting in Ephesians struck me. As I looked at the way he addressed the audience of his other letters, I noticed the following:

1. He was specific to whom the letter was written, and to me, those to whom it was not intended to reach.
2. His greetings set a tone for the letters. I noticed his greetings were different for those letters of correction than for other letters, yet in all the letters He identifies the audience as they are in Christ.
3. His greetings demonstrate the relationship Paul had with those to whom He was writing.

So if God where to write me a personal letter today, what would it say? How would he greet me? What about you? Should we think about how we greet and address others as we communicate with them?

I’d love to hear what you think.