What We Have Received

And of His fullness we have all received,

and grace for grace.

John 1:16

He was full of grace and truth, and of His fullness we have all received.

I think truth is pretty self-explanatory, but there are some who seem to struggle with the concept. Some think truth is arbitrary, situational, or relative. Some think deception is okay under the right set of circumstances, and some treat lying as a way of life. But Jesus Christ is the foundation of truth, and he is not arbitrary, situational or relative. He is what is, and that is truth. He will even later say of Himself, "I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (the TRUTH)." Jesus was full of truth.

But I think grace is not so simply understood for many people.

Grace is the undeserved, unearned, and unmerited favor of God, given freely to a person's life in order to bring them into right relationship with God. It involves joy and love and blessings, all the wonderful gifts given liberally to God's people. But grace is also strength and power and ability, all of which come from God as the eternal source of everything we need. Jesus was full of grace.

Through Christ, we have received the fullness of God's grace and truth, the two things we need most that reconcile us to Himself, but I know a lot of people who have problems with receiving free gifts, gifts without strings or conditions or attachments. God's truth was offered to us at the ultimate cost to Himself, and grace was freely given when we had nothing to pay; you couldn't buy those kinds of gifts anyway. But people who struggle with the liberality of God want to make salvation much harder than it really is. Some want to make it about what we do, or how much we do. But the Bible says that salvation comes to us by grace through our own faith in Jesus Christ. So what makes it easy for us to accept grace? Is it not grace itself?

By receiving the fullness of Christ into our own lives, we receive grace (power, ability) to receive grace (unmerited favor and blessing). And that is what is truly amazing about grace!