My thoughts at the beginning of this 2020 Christmas Season are centered on God’s grace. The Apostle John is quite clear in his Gospel’s opening chapter that Christ Jesus, the Word made flesh, is resplendent with grace and truth. He used the word “pleres” in the Greek which we translate as “full” in the English. Grace and truth were complete, abounding in our Savior and Lord.
John also reminds us, however, that out of His fullness we receive grace. And not just a single dose of grace when we first come to Him at salvation, but an experience of grace that continues to grow and expand in us.
“Indeed, we have all received grace after grace from His fullness, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” [John 1:16-17 HCSB]
His fullness of grace given to us leads us to a fuller experience of God’s goodness. And the more grace we experience, the more grace we receive. It is as John writes, “grace after grace.”
Every time we experience God’s love, grace flows to us. Every time we bask in His presence, grace grows in us. Every time we consider our worth attained in what God was willing to pay for us, grace abounds in us. Grace becomes our spiritual life’s blood and permeates every part of our being.
Without God’s grace I am nothing. I would return to what I was before salvation, empty, sin-filled, hopeless, and lost. But God will never remove His grace from me … nay … He causes His grace to grow in me so that I may be conformed to the image of His dear Son. He causes His grace to abound so that I might reflect the “grace & truth” of my Savior and LORD to a world that is dying.
Grace, grace, God’s grace … how wonderful!
