The first chapter of the gospel of John has much to say about the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word of God: John1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us………full of grace and truth”.
John 1:17: “For the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. Jesus Christ is the full embodiment of all truth, but truth cannot be separated from His grace. God, in His infinite wisdom, has married together grace and truth. There are times on our earthly journey when we find we have run out of grace in a situation. We find ourselves scratching around for grace in frustration. If we run out of grace and our peace has “left the building”, it is time to run into truth. Scripture declares, 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you……”. When I discover I have an insufficiency of the grace God has made available for me, it is time to get before the Lord and let the Holy Spirit examine my heart to see where I went wrong. Truth turns the tap of grace on. God will reveal the thoughts and actions of my heart that caused Him to withdraw His grace from my life. As I humbly embrace the truth and repent, bringing forth fruits of repentance, I find ” a broken and a contrite heart God will not despise“, grace is restored accompanied by God’s peace. Now the marriage partnership of grace and truth are functioning together again.
Grace is the unmerited favour of God. I can discover the different depths of this favour on my journey. We have all received pardoning grace for sin repented of. There may be times when we are desperate for changing grace for faults or addictions in our nature, but we never seem to come through on certain issues. God will not give me changing grace unless I have honoured Him by giving Him credit/glory for previous pardoning grace.
As I embrace and acknowledge His pardoning grace, He takes me to another depth of changing grace, all for His glory!
Now I discover another level, His keeping grace. I need a Keeper! Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall KEEP your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. My heart and mind need a Keeper, they are powerful tools to adjust our thoughts and actions.
The hymn writer, R. Robinson, penned the hymn “Come Thou Fount of every blessing”. May verse 3 be our daily prayer:
“O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be,
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee,
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love,
Take my heart, O take and seal it, seal it from Thy courts above”.
Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
