The wonder of His Wonder!

A blog dedicated to the explorations of God's awesomeness.

My prayer - that this content is used to stir a heart closer to our loving heavenly Father, the king of the universe.

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GRACE AND TRUTH

Grace and Trust: the words used by the Apostle John, in his opening chapter to describe Jesus Christ. What is the significance of those two words? Why choose these two words to describe Jesus?

John’s gospel is a first-hand account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. John focuses on the divine nature of Jesus Christ in the opening chapter. Jesus is described as ‘the Word’, ‘the Light’, ‘the only Son of God’, ‘the Lamb of God’ and ‘full of grace and truth’.

Words are the essence of communication, so too is ‘the Word’ the essence of God’s message to the world. Light reveals, so too does ‘the Light’ bring revelation. ‘The only Son of God’ who is also ‘the Lamb of God’: the ultimate gift of love to a fallen world.

GRACE

Grace and truth are key descriptors of Jesus Christ. To emphasise this they are repeated in verse 17. ‘Grace’ is unmerited favour; being blessed undeservedly; being rewarded without earning it. Where the law requires works to secure righteousness, grace is given freely, without works. Grace is the good news response of a loving God to a fallen world.  Grace means that God loves us and accepts us just as we are. Grace means that God is for us, that He works on our behalf, not because of anything we have done, but as a free gift. In essence, it is the natural, healthy response of the good, good Father for His adopted children.

OUR HEART’S CONDITION

All of our instinctive actions and thoughts stem from our heart. Proverbs 4:23 cautions us: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”. Knowing this full well, Jeremiah laments, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jere 17:9). Through our interactions with significant others our hearts have been corrupted by lies. So often the lie we believe is so deep-rooted, we are convinced it is true.

When we are confronted with a standpoint that conflicts with our perceived truths, we have the choice to rationalise our standpoint, dismiss the conflicting standpoint out-right or embrace the dissonance change our standpoint. However, we need to first confront the core assumption of the validity of the standpoint under consideration. This is where truth finds its place.

TRUTH

‘Truth’ is absolute. ‘Truth’ is not dependent upon our point of view. Truth exposes deceit. Truth is rooted in the Word of God and in Jesus Christ. However, we choose to respond to God’s Word does not negate its truth.

JESUS IS FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH

Making the choice to confront a lie can lead to a wonderful liberating experience. Jesus Christ is alive and fully engaged in the world. When we prayerfully and humbly present our lie to Jesus, who is full of grace towards us, we start understanding the power of ‘Truth’ working in tandem with ‘Grace’.

The grace of Jesus means we can confidently bring our lie before Him, confessing it before Him without fear of condemnation. He accepts us just as we are. The truth of Jesus means He takes our lie and replaces it with His truth. This revelation of truth results in a deep sense of liberation, joy and peace. Where there is no liberation, joy or peace, then there is still a lie we are believing.

THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF JESUS

By using ‘grace and truth’ to describe Jesus, John points us to the amazing transformational intervention that is available to us through Jesus Christ. To access this transformational power we need:

• to accept the Bible as irrefutable truth

• believe that Jesus is alive and working on our behalf

• embrace the grace of God extended to us through Jesus Christ, secured through His work on the cross

• prayerfully and humbly confess our lie to Jesus

• embrace and internalise His corresponding truth

I dare you to try it. Discover that Jesus really is alive and willing to be your redeemer, your chain-breaker and your liberator; restoring you to authentic peace and joy. He delights in moving on your behalf and He is eagerly looking forward to hearing from you.