Grace – Page 3 – BibleJournal.net

Champ to Chump…to Champ Again??

Today’s reading is Luke 9:18-27.

Here, in Luke 9:18-20, Peter correctly states the Jesus is the Christ when Jesus asks him who He is. I would imagine this was one of Peter’s prouder moments. Can you imagine Jesus basically saying to you, “You nailed it!” Have you ever had one of those spiritual mountaintop moments where you felt like you did the right thing? Maybe you spoke the Gospel or encouragement to someone who needed it, helped a homeless person, gave an amount more than normal to the church for a certain special offering or building project, or stood strong and avoided a temptation. However, we know it’s pretty easy in this world to go from champ to chump very quickly!

Peter experiences this when in both Mark 8 and Matthew 16 he tells Jesus that he cannot be crucified. Remember, Peter knows Jesus is Messiah. But, He and the other Jews incorrectly thought the Messiah would be an earthly king and save them from Roman impression. How many times do we think we know God’s plan, but His is different?! Jesus goes so far as to say to Peter, “Get behind me Satan..” in both Mark 8:33 and Matthew 16:23. Can you imagine Jesus saying that to you? We see again in Mark 14:30 Jesus foretells of Peter’s future mistake saying Peter will deny Him 3 times before the rooster crows twice to which Peter replies in Mark 14:31 he will not and will die with Jesus. We all know what happens!

Pastor Mike Baker spoke on this topic in his 1/16/2022 sermon at Eastview Christian Church. He asked the question, how do we proceed in life know the challenges and temptations which will come?

With humility (1 Corinthians 10:12)
With resistance (James 4:7)
With the Resurrection in Mind (John 16:1)

For more on this topic, check out his sermon here. https://youtu.be/kYrRXVt8-Ns

I specifically like all the ways he says we can face Satan with resistance. Jesus tells us in Luke 8:23-27 that we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross. However, most of us deny Jesus, rather than ourselves, in the following 3 ways Pastor Mike speaks of.

With our silence
With our lifestyle
With our Disassociation of God’s Church

However, Jesus still went to the cross for you and for me…even though He knew what we would do just like Peter. Despite Him knowing Peter’s failures, He told Peter he would build His church on Peter in Matthew 16:18.

Let me ask you a question, how can God use you despite your past..and even future…failures? What I love about Mark 14:30 telling of Peter’s failures and that he would deny Jesus is that Mark was telling the Gospel story through the eyes of Peter. Peter himself was telling of his failure. Why? He knew you and me would need to know God can still use us despite our failures and mistakes.

Are your past missteps holding you back? Or, have you moved on and God is using you, but have you told those mistakes to others who may need to hear your story so that they can themselves move past their own mistakes so God can in turn use them? I believe all of our entire stories are part of God’s plan and bigger story of His Gospel. There are no edits that should be removed from our story. Are we vulnerable enough like Peter to tell those to others to help them? The best leaders and coaches I’ve had are not the ones that seem perfect, but the ones who can relate to me because they have had the same challenges. We have all gone from champ to chump at one time or another like Peter. Let’s share our story with others as part of God’s greater Gospel story to impact them for His Kingdom. We can let them know God can still use them for big things. Most importantly, we can let them know we are all champs in the end and will spend eternity with Him in Heaven when we believe in Jesus and His forgiveness on the cross and Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Finish 2021 Well

Today’s Reading 2 Timothy 3-4 & Titus 1

Leadership, Instructions, and Fatherly Advice were the last few posts inspiring and encouraging to us all as we lead in our ways daily. As we continue reading 2 Timothy and Titus, Paul shares his final charge to Timothy and his advice to Titus as he takes on many church responsibilities. I’m sure Titus was taking notes, highlighting, and jotting down his notes as he read the letter from Paul. For Titus, following a fantastic leader can be very challenging. Leaders can make many changes to put themselves at the forefront or improve and enhance upon previous successes while walking alongside those they lead. In Paul’s instructions to Titus, I see Paul sharing advice and providing him with a plan.

In any leadership position, having a plan is essential. Remember, we are all leaders because we all have influence. Paul’s advice was not of his own, but that always of our Heavenly Father.

Have a good character that church leaders should have
How to teach to various groups
How to conduct ourselves

Reading through the verses between Titus and 2 Timothy, I caught myself capturing the contrast between the last days Paul warns us about in 2 Timothy 3 and what will equip us on our journey to Heaven in Titus.

Without fault	Selfish
Not arrogant – or quick-tempered	Greedy
Not drunkard	Conceited
Not greedy for money	Irreligious
Hospitable	Ungrateful
Self-controllable	unkind/merciless
Agree with doctrine	Love pleasure more than God

2 Timothy 3

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Titus 1

6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe[b] and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

What way will I choose to live? What path will you choose to lead? Many will say that we are in some of the last days. I know that only He knows that day. All we can do is choose how to lead every day this side of Heaven. One of my favorite Spiritual Audit questions is, “Who did I serve in the name of Jesus today?” Have no regrets about how and who you lead today.

2 Timothy 4:7-8

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Finish Well!

Journey with You.

Today’s Readings: Ephesians 2 -3

We all have traveled a different journey in our walk with Christ. My journey had brought me through a time where I would have said I was truly spiritually dead—a time in my life when I definitely followed the ways of the world. Paraphrasing from verse 2:3, Paul called it gratifying the cravings of our flesh. I’m thankful for this letter Paul writes to the church of Ephesus. I, too, deserved the wrath Paul talks about in Ephesians 2:4. The joy Paul reminds the church elders is that we are all made alive in Christ when we turn our lives over to Him.

I’m grateful for so many people that have poured into me along my journey and brought me to be true and closer to God. I pray to share the same encouragement and dedication to others along their journey. Each day I read our Bible Journal posts and am inspired by the stories and reflections of how each chapter of the Bible has an impact o our lives.

This journey is ongoing and can take different paths. I can hit potholes of worldly desires and selfish actions that humble my heart and mind in the daily walk. Still, God’s grace captures me right where I’m at and draws me in.

I leave you with Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in Chapter 3:14-21.

Dear Lord,

I pray that out of Your glorious riches, You may strengthen us with power through Your Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And I pray that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

Perfect In Weakness

Today’s reading is 2 Corinthians chapters 12 and 13, as well as Galatians 1.

What is at least one thing you are self-conscious about? I have a few. One is my bow legs. As I grew, they got worse and classmates poked fun at me. I have to laugh though because my last name is Bandy and if you look up “bandy” in the dictionary it says “bandy-legged” means bow legged! It only stands to make sense that my brother, dad, and I have been smitten with this. The other item I became self-conscious about at a young age is my skinniness and lack of physical strength. I remember getting anxious about going to the weight room for football. I didn’t want my teammates and coaches to know that the kid who was competing for starting quarterback could hardly lift the bar in bench press. As I have shared before, I then broke my arm three times in two seasons. That obviously did not do anything to stop the jokes about my frailty but only poured gasoline on the fire.

Now that I’m an adult and married with four children, I should be past this right? To be straight, it’s still not easy. As a man, husband, and father, we still often measure ourselves by our physical strength and our masculinity. I should be able to lift or move something on my own, right…or use my physical skills to fix something around the house? That’s maybe a 3^rd complex I won’t go into today..haha. We should also be able to physically protect our family with our strength if our family was ever in danger.

I have previously written about my spinal stenosis and ironically as I write this, I am getting ready to have my 5^th surgery in a few weeks. As I’ve shared in the past, I have permanent loss of strength (about half) in my right hand, as well as motor skills, and now have had more surgeries including the one coming up to keep the same thing from happening to my left arm/hand. As you can tell, getting away from self-consciousness about my lack of strength because I now am old, no longer play sports, and work a job where I mostly use my mind and relationship skills is still not easy because now I still struggle with some of the basic things I want to do around the house for my family. I know it’s silly to be concerned about my physical strength at this point. Paul even tells us 1 Corinthians 16:13 physical strength is not what makes a man a man. He says, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

I don’t believe in coincidences, so I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 where Paul talks about an affliction he was given was part of my assigned verses as I prepare for my next surgery.

⁷So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,^[^a^] a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul states that his affliction (we are not sure what that affliction is) keeps him from being conceited. Is this the case for me? I don’t know..maybe. I know one thing..I’ve been blessed in my life with some things I don’t deserve that unfortunately not everyone has…loving parents, a loving and supportive wife, four healthy kids, financial blessings, and a stable career I love. If I didn’t have some “thorn(s),” would I even think I needed God? I realize God had His hand on my life when he led me into the field of financial planning, rather than dentistry/orthodontics, my original dream career, which I would not be able to do with my hand issues. If these surgeries were not possible due to modern medicine, I would be like the man at the pool in the Bible..paralyzed eventually. He led me to a surgeon and surgery options by His grace that were better than what Mayo even proposed. I can still throw a ball with my kids and type on a keyboard which is needed in my career. I’m extremely grateful for His provision through all of this. I’m also grateful these challenges are mine and not my wife or my children.

Most importantly, as I look down and see my puny, almost withered right hand..I’m reminded what Paul says here in 2 Corinthians 13:10. When I am weak, then I am strong, and His grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in my weakness. It’s all that matters and all I really need in life. Ironically, another Paul, my good friend and Christ follower Paul Kelly, stated the following to me recently in a text message dialogue after a sermon…

“My desire to be the best version of myself will never be good enough. So..it’s in our weaknesses that God unveils our greatest gifts..His love is incomprehensively good and although I’ll never be worth it…I will forever be grateful.”

Thank you, Paul…no truer words can be said.

On Alert

Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 5-6.

If you read these chapters not knowing when and where they came from, sadly you would likely think they were written to the current church. The Bible makes it clear that God hates sin..as we read just recently in Romans 6:23. Without Jesus’ saving grace, the wages of sin are death. In today’s reading we learn about how God feels about sin within the church, especially sexual immorality. We also learn about how He feels about sin to our own body.

Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin one commits is outside the body, but the sexual immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

When God created the universe and everything in it, He said it was good. But, when he created man on the sixth day He said it was very good (Genesis 1:31). God loved us so much that He gave His Son Jesus for us..giving us grace for a price…His suffering..not ours. The church is often referenced as the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7). With these things in mind, it is no surprise God is especially disappointed with sin inside the church (1 Corrinthians 5:12-13), and sin committed to our own body.

Arguably, sins of sexual immorality are the most visible and prevalent in our world today. They are also prevalent inside the church with members of the clergy not only committing sins of sexual immorality, but some churches claiming to be Christian even going directly against what the Bible says. They are not only condoning certain sins, but even allowing those knowingly committing them to serve as pastors and elders. It is more important than ever that we let the Bible be our guidance system. We must constantly be making sure that our churches and pastors are following and preaching what the Word says. The world should not lead what our pastors and the church should do and say…the Word should. One letter…the letter “l” makes all the difference.

It is also more important than ever that we guard the eyes, hearts, and minds of our children. Sins which the Bible says are wrong are being condoned and even taught in some churches and schools. We must educate and teach them what the Word says. We can dislike the sin, but still love the sinner in the same way that God dislikes our own sins yet loved us so much that He let His own Son suffer and die for us. We are sinners ourselves and in need of grace. However, we cannot knowingly approve of sins the Bible says are wrong in the same way we cannot approve of the sins we commit ourselves.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

This is not easy when we are getting told from TV, movies, advertising, schools…and even the churches what is acceptable that directly conflicts with Bible. We must stay on watch and fervently use the Bible as our guidance chip.

Be soberminded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

In Due Time..

Today’s reading is Luke 1.

Have you ever felt like you were doing everything the right way and following the Lord’s will but the one thing you want to happen does not? Maybe you keep getting passed up for that promotion at work or your business just won’t take off. Or even worse, you or a family member aren’t getting better from an illness. You are probably wondering why all is happening to do you when you are trying to do everything the way God wants. Why is He not “rewarding” you?

In Luke 1:6-24 we read of the birth of John the Baptist. John’s parents Zechariah and Elizabeth face a struggle some reading this have probably faced..they want a child and can’t have one. In fact, we are told not only did they both come from a blessed lineage, but they both walked blamelessly and followed the Lord’s commandments and will (Luke 1:6) themselves. Yet, they could not have a child they yearned for and were getting very old likely past the age where anyone could have a child. Jesus tells us in this world we will face troubles and sorrow in John 16:33. Being a believer and follower of Jesus does not mean life will be easy and that we will get everything we want exactly when we want it. However, waiting does not mean God is not working and doesn’t have something bigger planned for you. In this case, Zechariah and Elizabeth give birth to John the Baptist who was filled with the spirit of Elijah and who would prepare the way and point people to Jesus (Luke 1:17). He even has the honor of baptizing Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17). Does God always give us what we want? No. Often times, in fact probably most of the time, He has a different plan than what we want. But, His plan is always better..even if we would have never chosen it ourself. God can do big things in time through life as He does here in the birth of John the Baptist and also through death as He did through Jesus. Have you ever looked at the bottom of a crocheted piece? It looks like a big mess! But flip it over to the other side, and it looks beautiful. The bottom side is how we see life..a big mess and not getting what we want..but what God sees is His bigger and better plan on the other side.

Let us pray..

Lord, please help ease my anxiety when I don’t get what I want. Help me remember that being a follower of You does not mean life will be easy and is not what You promised. You did everything right and did not sin, yet no one suffered more than you. Help me remember that the Father’s plan is bigger and better than my plan…perfect in time. Help bring me peace and trust in You no matter what I face. Thank you for you forgiveness, grace, and Resurrection. Amen.

You’re invited…what are you wearing?

Today’s Reading: Matthew 22

v 1-14 The Kingdom of heaven is like…

The more I’ve reflected on our wedding, the more memories jog my mind. The details that were put into everything. From invitations selection to music played to the food and cake served. What an amazing day. This summer Jennifer and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. I know I don’t say it or recognize enough the masterpiece our Lord created in my wife and our three wonderful children Jackson, Marshall, and Gianna, but I know they truly are.

The parable that Jesus shares in Matthew 22 talks about a wedding that various groups are invited to. Everyone in town was invited to, yet people refused and paid no attention to the invite for one reason or another. For those who finally came, some didn’t come dressed for such an occasion. There is always some thought that gets put into your outfit when attending a wedding. For me, this parable makes me reflect on what I’m wearing. What d do I put on each day in the presence of the Lord? What are my actions as a preparation for a wedding feast in Heaven? People like to pretend that our choices or actions don’t matter much in our modern-day world, but this parable shows that it isn’t true.

God’s invitation from Him is not a light matter. We are accepting or rejecting this once-in-a-lifetime invite. Our answer matters. Our actions matter. Our dress matters.

What are you wearing?

Ephesians 4:20- 24 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Every morning we all wake up and get dressed for the day. Am I clothed in Humility?

1 Peter 5:5 and be clothed in humility…

I’m grateful for His mercies He has shown me for the moments when my character lacks, and actions don’t represent Him. Lamentations 3:22-23 says Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

You are invited. Do you accept? As we prepare now for His Kingdom, are there any garments that you are missing? Am I truly dressed and ready, or do I think I am?

Psalm 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Lord, I pray that my actions and words represent godliness in all I do. In my sinful human moments, help me to repent and seek you. Father, I know the Kingdom you have invited us to is bigger and better than anything the world has to offer. Help me each day to know this truth and share it with others. Amen

His Loving Patience

What a great Top 10 Lynden shared with us yesterday on things we take for granted. His examples were definitely aligned with mine as a reminder about many of the things we have in this life. After Psalm 105’s reminder about the hidden things we take for granted comes a reminder in Psalm 106 of God’s grace and patience despite our forgetful and self-willed lives.

Todays Reading: Psalm 106

I read and listened to a recent Podcast that recommended going back and reading different Bible versions. Today I landed on the Good news Translation.

1 Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good;
his love is eternal.
2 Who can tell all the great things he has done?
Who can praise him enough?

Who can praise him enough? I know that I can’t. Even if I started a list right now, I’d still be making a list for days to come. Take a moment to pause and reflect. Write it down in your journal, on the side of your bible, say them out loud.

Praise for His transformation in my life.
Praise for His love and grace He shows and gives me.
Praise for my family.
Praise for small groups.
Praise for 1777 posts Bible Journal has posted since 1/1/2016.

These were just some I thought about today. As you continue to read through this chapter, you will be reminded of the importance of our obedience in verse 3.

3 Happy are those who obey his commands,
who always do what is right.

Verses 6-43 humble me and remind me of the blind, rebellious, and forgetful we can be in our sinful nature how stories from the Israelites shortcomings can connect back to our stories today. To my story. To yours.

Thankfully, we have a Father who has given and shows grace to those who deserved judgment. Verse 44-47. God’s faithfulness to us is not dependent on our faithfulness to him. Just a few weeks ago, we remembered that God sent His son to die for you and me. He showed us grace when we were still sinners. Imagine the grace He shows as his children.

44 Yet the Lord heard them when they cried out,
and he took notice of their distress.
45 For their sake he remembered his covenant,
and because of his great love he relented.
46 He made all their oppressors
feel sorry for them.

47 Save us, O Lord our God,
and bring us back from among the nations,
so that we may be thankful
and praise your holy name.

48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel;
praise him now and forever!
Let everyone say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!

Why I Believe: Chet Bandy

Today’s reading is Psalm 6.

I’m a little embarrassed to say when reflecting and preparing on this topic of “Why I Believe” I struggled a bit. I’m blessed to have been born into a Christian home with great parents who told me about God and Jesus at a young age, took me to Sunday school and church, and sent me to vacation Bible school amongst many other things to help establish my faith early. A friend of mine and someone who I would also consider a mentor, Tom Lipscomb, says that his mom would comment about certain things, “I know it in my knower.” Many believers have had a fork in the road moment where they remember turning to God when they had no where else to go, and they felt God save them, renew their soul, and rescue them from these challenges. This is similar to what David describes throughout Psalm 6 and especially in Psalm 6:1-2, Psalm 6:4, and Psalm 6:9. In fact, the titling in my Bible above Psalm 6 is O Lord, Deliverer My Life. For me though, I’ve never not believed… it’s more like Tom’s mom said, “I know it in my knower.”

Some reading this may say if there was never a time you didn’t believe and the flip was switched so to speak, how do you really know it’s true and God is real? I will say there was a period of time around my college years when I did reflect and think to myself, “Do I really believe the Bible and what I’ve heard all these years? Or is this just something I’ve always taken as true because my parents believe and not let my mind question or think otherwise? Do I really believe myself?” As I let my mind become more open to wondering if it was true and become more cognizant to the information I was taking in, I continued to come back to what I heard and the truth I read in the Word. Yes, there are the questions that science brings up about creation, evolution, and the miracle of the virgin birth. But, science is changing every day. Things that were believed to be scientifically true for years and years are being disproven, revised, and changed. Heck, we still don’t know fully how all the facets of the human body works today, let alone the truth about things that happened hundreds and thousands and even millions of years before any one of us were even born. I believe most of what science says just describes the way God engineered and did things. Science and God are not in opposition necessarily. For other things where science and God don’t seem to jive, I arrive at two conclusions. First, how do we know the so-called science is true? Again, science is being revised constantly. Secondly, some things we have to just say happened by the miracle of God because He is God and can do what we can’t.. and can’t even explain for that matter (Romans 11:33-34, Isaiah 55:8-9). More than anything, the love of Jesus and His grace on the cross continued to be a magnet that would not let me go away. Again, I just “know it in my knower.”

While there hasn’t been a watershed moment where I can say I first believed, I can say that almost daily I become more and more convicted as to the truth of God’s existence and the Bible. It happens when I see someone decide to break the chains of their past and the shackles of their sin and lead a changed life once they discover the love and grace of Jesus. It’s seeing the beauties of a gorgeous sunrise or sunset and looking up at the stars and moon and thinking, “There’s no way all this could happen by chance.” It’s seeing the birth of my children and reflecting on the fact that life is truly a miracle. Just think about all the things that have to go right for a baby to be born and the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of chemical interactions and nerves firings, all of which happen simultaneously without us thinking about them, just for us to live. It’s seeing how something that seemed terrible at the time like a relationship split or job loss years later proves out to be a great thing by finding an even greater relationship or career path. It’s how what seemed to be a small and insignificant decision at the time later turns out to change the trajectory of your life such as my decision to pursue finance instead of orthodontics not knowing that years later I would lose fine motor skills in my hand. How do these things happen without a greater power? How do they happen without God? My simple conclusion..they don’t. When you believe and develop awareness and look for it, you can see God’s hand on nearly everything…eventually. For other things where we never see it ourselves, we just simply have to trust Him, and I’m confident we will find out in Heaven that there was in fact a great purpose we just couldn’t see.

What is the greatest miracle though and the reason why I believe? It’s the grace of Him sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross. As Andy Stanley described in a recent series I listened to, when we as created beings question and doubt our Creator in any way, we deserve eternal punishment. But, God did what man cannot even fathom doing if we were God.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:7-8

Before some of us believed while we were rejecting Him, and while some us believed yet are still sinning by the day, hour, and even minute now…He suffered and died in an unimaginable and gruesome way for you and for me. Knowing what we would do and are still doing today..He did it anyway. It’s that sacrifice and His unfathomable grace which restores and renews me when I mess up constantly to bring me back together with Him..that’s why I believe.

Please take a few minutes to watch this lyric video. I promise…you won’t regret it.

https://youtu.be/C2U7ffUM5Ec

Grace and Truth

Today’s reading is John 1:9-18

Since God made man there have been questions. Satan started creating them right away in Genesis 3:1 saying, “…Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” This lead to the Fall when sin came into the world. Today, we live in time when there are arguably more questions than ever due to all the craziness in the world coupled with the access to so much information through social media and the internet. Let’s name a few. Was there fraud in the presidential election? What is true and not true about Covid 19? Do masks work? Is the vaccine safe or not and should our family get it? Is global warming a threat and caused by man or just natural and normal climate change? These questions probably ignite feelings and opinions you believe to be truth. They might even invoke anger, and if they don’t, there are probably other ones I didn’t even want to list that would. Isn’t is also ironic that access to more information than ever only seems to bring more questions than answers.

From the start, man was curious and wanted to know the truth and believed some things to be true which were not. John 1:9-18 reminds us that advent is a time where we remember God gave us truth through His Son Jesus born in a manger in Bethlehem that first Christmas. He is the One and Only source of true light and the one and only source of truth (John 1:9). He is Truth.

We are also told by John in these verses He came with grace, and we know He ultimately showed us this grace through His sacrifice on the cross. Romans 5:8 reads, “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” It is not by our doing or works that we are saved. It is purely by His grace which we do not deserve.

As I mentioned earlier, most all of us (including me!) have a lot of beliefs about what is true as it relates to what is going on in the world right now. Let us all remember this advent season that Jesus, the Word, is the only real Truth. We don’t need to look any further and for more information than is found in the Bible. Let us remind others of this as well. But, let’s also remember this advent that every time the Bible talks about grace and truth, grace always comes first. Again, Romans 5:8 tells us He gave us this grace when we didn’t deserve it. When we hear people talking or posting on social media about what they believe to be truth which we may not feel the same, let us model what Jesus taught and gave us by giving them grace first. I don’t see a lot of this grace from Christians these days. By giving this love and grace we can then point them to the Truth that is Jesus. They can then find for themselves what they are looking for this Christmas (but likely don’t know it) which is the grace and truth God gave us through that babe in a manger on the first Christmas over 2,000 years ago. Only in His grace and truth will they find peace.