Dr. Dan Hayden •
The word “and” is a pretty important word. It’s like the coupling between two railroad cars. It ties things together. That’s our word for today… “and.”
In John 1:14, John says that Jesus was “full of grace and truth.” Did you notice that there were two things that characterized the life of Christ?
First, He was full of grace. That simply means that Jesus was a very gracious Person. He was kind, and considerate, and thoughtful of others. He wasn’t harsh and demanding and critical. He was full of grace—He was gracious.
Second, He was full of truth. That means that He was concerned about things being right. The truth really mattered to Him. He wasn’t tolerant of sin. He didn’t wink at error. He taught the truth and He wanted people to believe the truth. He was full of truth.
Now the thing to notice here is that He was full of both. That’s what “and” means here—BOTH. He was “full of grace and truth.” Too often we’re imbalanced here. Either we are so gracious and loving that we’re lax on the truth. Or we are so concerned about the truth that we’re lacking in love and graciousness.
Jesus had a wonderful balance of grace and truth, and so should we. Does the truth matter? You bet! Does having a gracious spirit matter? Absolutely! But what we really need to discover is the word, “and.” Jesus was “full of grace and truth.”
Say, are you a balanced person? Are you full of grace and truth?