“…the law was given through Moses, but GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) This is the truth about grace and truth. If you have grace without truth, you have a license to do whatever you want. GOD’S GRACE FORGIVES SIN, but when you put truth with it, you learn in TRUTH that GOD HATES SIN. He forgives sin for the benefit of the sinner, but He still hates sin.
1Grace is the divine influence on the heart. 1charis: good will, loving-kindness, favour, it is also the desire and the power to do God’s will. We get the word touch from this. Grace is the touch of God that changes us, making us different from what we would ever be otherwise. We can never be what God wants us to be until HE TOUCHES US. We will never walk with God until we learn to walk in truth. And we cannot walk in truth without grace because we do not have the strength.
“…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 1:14) We need to be grace people and truth people. Not half grace and half-truth. Not all grace on Mondays and all truth on Tuesdays. ALL GRACE AND ALL TRUTH ALL THE TIME. “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him AS HE IS. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)
How will we be LIKE JESUS? We will be full of GRACE and TRUTH. Remember, Jesus is, “…the way, the TRUTH, and the life.” (John 14:6) This wonderful verse informs us of His awesome love, “Behold what MANNER OF LOVE the Father has BESTOWED (showered) on us, that we should be called CHILDREN OF GOD! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” (1 John 3:1)
-Bill Stockham