"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." --John 1:14
We learn to be respectful and courteous to guests right? We give strangers the benefit of the doubt. Think about it, and let me give you a scenario...
You're walking down a sidewalk and accidentally bump into someone. That stranger begins to flip out, starts yelling at you, and continues to walk. Your reaction is either: "what's wrong with him/her" or "they're just probably having a bad day, I'll forgive them".
You usually give a stranger the benefit of the doubt. Now let's look at the other side.
What happens when you personally know someone? You probably won't be as forgiving because you know what he/she is doing. Here's the scenario...
Your sibling is acting all cute and nice in public. Everyone loves your sibling and thinks that he/she is just the most precious, adorable, innocent person. They tell you: "isn't your sister/brother just the most precious person?" or "why can't you be more like your sister/brother, they are so wonderful!"
BUT YOU KNOW THE TRUTH. You know that your sibling is a manipulative, sweet talking, con artist. Unfortunately, no one believes you because they haven't seen the truth.
So as you can see, the more truth we know about someone, the less gracious we are to them. We can easily forgive strangers, but can't forgive our friends and relatives because WE KNOW how MEAN, CONDESCENDING, and MANIPULATIVE they can be (just trying to give a little humor... it's hard to show it when you write...).
We try and play this balancing game. To be a "good person" I need to balance my grace and truth. 50% Grace. 50% Truth. Now let's look at how Jesus would behave in our society.
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Jesus, God's only son, came down to earth. He took upon the sins of every person that was to ever exist, and He died for you. FULLY knowing the TRUTH about you, Jesus FULLY extended His GRACE to you by dying on the cross. Jesus, who is also God, is 100% Grace. 100% Truth. Look at John 1:14. It says it all.
God, who knows EVERY TRUTH about you, has fully extended His grace to you. That means He has already forgiven everything you have done, are doing right now, and will do. Isn't that amazing?
We try to play this balance game of grace and truth. We try to nail the middle line where grace and truth intersect. But God is full of grace and full of truth at the same time. He doesn't play a balance game. He doesn't need to balance anything.
One more thing. Our truth isn't the fact that we are sinners. Our truth is that we are an image of God. We are a reflection of God's glory. That's our truth. Sin is something that entered the world and distorted the image of God. At our core, we are the image of God. He knows the truth about us. We are His image. Since He knows our true identity, He has fully extended his grace.
Here's one biblical example. Let's take the Apostle Paul. We originally know him as Saul. Saul was one of the most intellectual Jews. He knew all the laws. He was, in a sense, a Jewish prodigy. But here's some more truth...
He persecuted Christians. He murdered them. He felt justified in killing Christians left and right. He seems like a terrible person right?
Here's the full truth that God knew...
He will be changed into the Apostle Paul. He will become one of the greatest missionaries of all time. He will become a man of God.
God fully knows the truth about you. He will fully extend His grace to you because He knows that you were created in His image.
So that concludes my mini-summary. There were many other biblical examples, but I didn't want to make this post too long. If you want to watch the sermon, just ask me and I'll send you the link. Thanks for reading!
Hope God blesses your heart and enlightens you through my mediocre writing.
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