Some thoughts....Grace AND Truth.

I have been thinking about this verse the last couple of months and it's been a real challenge to me.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.    John 1:14

This is something the vast majority of us struggle with....to be "full of grace and truth". I want to continue to grow in my Christian walk to be more like Jesus. This is one area that I struggle with but to be more like Jesus, we must be well balanced (if not full of) in grace and truth. 

If you look around at different churches, you will find some are full of grace but lacking truth. Other are full of truth and lacking grace. One is not complete without the other. If you look at the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4) at the well that Jesus talked to with "truth and grace" in mind, you will see that Jesus used both. He, being a Jew, actually spoke to this woman and then revealed himself to her and offered her "living water". He is displaying grace here with truth. When she asks for this water, Jesus sort of changes the subject and tells her to go get her husband. He purposefully makes this detour to bring out her sin. This is the truth about her. I believe the result is blessing. She accepted Jesus as her Messiah and went into the city and called everyone to "come see a man that told me everything that I ever did." 

It would be a very interesting and beneficial study to go through the life of Jesus-in the gospels-to see how He lived out "grace and truth" and thereby impliment that more in my life.

I hope you will be challenged by these thoughts as well...to grow more and more like Jesus in grace and truth.