"...full of grace and truth"

John 1 is an incredible chapter of the Bible--one of my favorite--and, much to my delight,
our pastor (my step son) has spent the last three weeks teaching from it. Last week he spent the morning zeroing in on verse 14 and pitching his tent in the words describing Jesus as "full of grace and truth". I've been literally camped there this week.

I'm married to both terms. I'm a "grace guy" because I'm painfully and gratefully aware of my desperate need of grace. My theological background was not steeped in grace but a painful life-altering experience slammed  me square into the face of grace or I would not have survived, much less have emerged with a strengthened sense of how vital its certainty was to my life, and ultimately, to my ministry. It is more natural now for me to be proactive about sharing the message of God's grace with my clients and friends than it was for me to acknowledge its primacy in the earlier days of my mistaken self-sufficiency and latent pride.  Failure and sin as believers have a tendency to strip those things away and potentially to drive us back to Jesus for forgiveness and the grace we desperately need.

The "truth" part has always been buried within me. Even as a rebellious teen seeking to undermine the claims of the gospel I was gripped by the futility of it in the light of the truth I already knew.  Pastoring for over forty-five years,  I saw myself as a guardian of the truth, fearing the scripturally clear consequences of being a false prophet (read ll Peter and Jude). I'm certain I did not proclaim the truth perfectly but it was always clear to me that proclaiming it was what I was called to do. I learned soon enough that such preaching and teaching, though valued by many,  was critiqued by others as contrary to the message of grace.

How do "grace" and "truth" mix?  Are they like oil and water?  One has only to look at John 1:14 to see the visual of the marriage of both in Christ Himself--"the only begotten of the Far0ther, full of grace and truth". The gospel of John provides living illustrations of Jesus's encounters with others where His "grace and truth" we're on display,  from His encounter with Nicodemus to His conversation with the woman at the well. Jesus, who IS the truth, shares the truth with the fragrances of grace that rightly adorn it.

As I reflect on this season, with more discretionary time than I usually have, I've been conducting my own personal inventory about my commitment to the absolute potentially life-changing truths of the Word coupled with my own ongoing experiences of God's grace. I want to speak the truth with love, and not miss an opportunity to direct others to the grace we need found in Christ alone.

A determined look ahead

I have abandoned my blog over the last ten months but now I'm determined to revisit it at least weekly in the new year. I hope you'll join me in the. New year.

Some of you regularly read my blog, "The Pastor's Heartbeat". I'm consolidating my blogging under this blog site and invite you to join me as I share my ramblings and rumblings about life and it's challenges for me. My hope is that the commonality of our human experiences will draw us together. I welcome your comments should you decide to join me in this journey.

I read the 86th Psalm for my devotions this morning. These words, simple as they are, grabbed my heart. "Make glad the heart of your servant, For to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon you."  It's my cry to God this morning for a couple of obvious reasons.

1.  I want to experience a "glad heart". This often evades me because my focus on earthly things has the potential for dragging me down and into myself. Not a happy retreat.

2.  I want to embrace my place as a "servant"and  to resist my tendency to usurp God's place of  leadership in my life.

3.  I want to be entrenched in my intentional acknowledgement of who God is--good, forgiving and full of loving kindness. That is an invitation to cling to Him through the daily circumstances and challenges I encounter.

It's kind of the same old thing for me--understanding my emotional extravagances, "undoing" my selfish ambitions and "urging" my mind to stay focused on the faithfulness of God.

It's all a part of inventorying the old and inviting in the new as I come to the end of the year. Why not join me in this process of determining to look ahead with anticipation of drawing closer to a God who  is "ready to forgive and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon Him".