FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  (John 1:14,16,17 ESV)

There is more nonsense per square inch about worldliness than perhaps any other subject in the Christian life.  Usually, worldliness is reduced to a laundry list of taboos -- the nasty nine, the terrible ten, or the dirty dozen, depending on whose list you go by.

The do's and don'ts sound like they come straight from Sinai, but the truth of the matter is, they originate from our own parochial prejudices.

We want to watch out for worldliness, but we also want to watch out for the legalistic labels that some condescending Christians stick on many areas of life where God has granted us freedom.

The key to an abundant life under the lordship of Christ is not trying to impress Him with the check marks on our laundry list but trying to live like He lived -- full of grace and truth, not full of legalism and pious platitudes. 

-- Charles R. Swindoll in “The Practical Life of Faith” [1990] 

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“I WILL BE WITH YOU”

At the unburning bush, God said to Moses, “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10). To which Moses replied, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (v. 11). Here may be the most beautiful and powerful part of the whole encounter. Behold God’s answer to Moses’s question: “I will be with you” (v. 12).

God did not tell Moses why he was selected for the mission. He didn’t say a single word about Moses’s qualifications or lack thereof. God did not attempt to build up Moses’s sense of self-worth or credibility or give him a pep talk or say, “You can do this, Moses!” The answer to Moses asking “Who am I?” was God stating, “I will be with you.”

In the face of impossible things and insurmountable challenges, God doesn’t ask us to go and develop a strategic plan and then raise a gazillion dollars to make it happen. The truth? If it can be done with a strategic plan and a gazillion dollars, it’s not big enough for God.

Get back in touch with the moment. The God of the cosmos made an appearance through an unburning bush on the far side of the wilderness to an octogenarian sheep herder and said he was sending him to rescue and deliver a nation of a million or more slaves from their oppressor -- a man who happened to be the most powerful person in the world leading the most powerful nation on the planet.

And to all of our quandaries about impossible things and our quizzical inquiries about improbable outcomes, God responds with: “I will be with you.” 

-- Excerpted from “Wake-Up Call” with J. D. Walt

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