GRACE and TRUTH came through JESUS CHRIST!
October
30 Bible Reading: John Chapters 1-3
GRACE and TRUTH came through JESUS CHRIST
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, this
was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He
was before me.' And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace
and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:14-17)
The Word
became flesh when Jesus was born as a Baby in the manger at Bethlehem. He had
always existed as the Son of God with the Father in heaven, but now chose to
come into the world in a human body. Jesus dwelt among us as He “pitched His tent” here. His body was
the tent in which He lived among men for 33 ½ years. God stooped to our level
when He came to this earth, and this led to His greatest accomplishment among
all – bridging the gap between the infinite God and finite man. Hallelujah!
Jesus Christ was truly human during
His earthly existence:
He was tired and thirsty (4:6, 7); He wept (11:35); He was troubled in spirit
(12:27; 13:21); and He died (19:30). Without becoming less than God (Phil.
2:5–11), Jesus took upon Himself complete human nature. At His incarnation, God
did not become man; He became God-Man.
Jesus Christ was full of grace and
truth. Jesus came to
this world to be God’s grace –
something that we did not deserve as we had sinned and deserved punishment. Grace
is God’s unmerited favor toward sinners for their salvation. It was God’s grace
upon us that Jesus humbled Himself to connect with us in our weakness. Jesus
also came to be the Truth (John 14:6)
to bring us back to God as He came to save us from our sins (Matt. 1:21). Grace
was evident in the Old Testament (Gen. 6:8; Ex. 34:6), but not in the fullness that we experience in Jesus
Christ. God met us at our point of need
in the Person of Jesus Christ, including all His power and provision!
Taking on
human limitations, our Lord Jesus Christ did countless acts of compassion to
accommodate us in our weakness. To be channels of His blessings, let us allow
the love of Jesus Christ expressed
overtly through grace and truth flow through us into the lives of others!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Eph 2:8-9)
