Scripture tells us that Jesus was full of it. He was full of “it”, but not in the sense of the expression that we may be familiar with.
John tells us in John 1 that Jesus was the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, He came from the Father and He was full of… “grace and truth”.
So what does that mean? Well, as much as I understand about this I think it’s something we need to get a handle on for a number of reasons. It has huge implications for our lives.
Jesus came full of truth because mankind was imprisoned by lies. The spiritual strangler fig of the father of lies had been effectively sowed in the heart of the human race. Sin had taken root and was choking the life out of all of us. Truth is the antidote to the lies of our spiritual enemy that steal, kill and destroy the life God has for us.
Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life. It is Truth that will set us free. Jesus also said He will send us the Spirit of Truth to guide us in all truth. And John tells us that Jesus came full of truth.
If we don’t get hold of God’s truth we stay imprisoned to the lies of the enemy: lies about ourselves, lies about others, lies about God.
A truth about the state of mankind when Jesus came was that we were bound by a curse. The curse of sin meant that we were alienated from God and not part of the family of God. We were destined to die separated from God – our sin meant we were not participants in the promises and blessing of God. The truth was, we deserved to die.
However, Jesus came full of grace as well as truth.
So what is “grace”? Grace is often referred to as “getting what you don’t deserve”, or the “unmerited favour of God”. It’s a special favour, an act of kindness and courtesy, a pardon and a special privilege.
The grace of God extended mercy to mankind. We didn’t deserve God’s favour, we were rebellious, full of sin, and enemies of God – full of ourselves, not full of God. Jesus came full of grace – full of God’s favour toward us in spite of our rejection of Him.
Jesus came offering God’s undeserved favour to us as well as the antidote to our predicament. We deserved to die because of our sin, but the grace of God gave us life instead. And then He empowered us with truth to live in the freedom of His love.
If Jesus came full of grace and truth, I believe we need to be full of grace and truth as well. There are so many applications of this, but here is where the rubber hits the road for me…
The truth is, someone may have done me wrong: hurt me, disrespected me, offended me, rejected me, etc. Will I choose to extend grace to them? Will I offer love and forgiveness in the midst of the truth of the situation?
Sure, the truth may be that they were totally wrong. They should not have treated me that way. It was ugly and nasty, and everything in me wants to write them off. I want to yell, “Screw you!”, and walk away from them. Or worse, I want to do something that will hurt them the way they have hurt me.
Have you ever felt like that?
It’s in these kinds of situations we can be full of the grace of God as well. We can extend His pardon, His forgiveness, His mercy, His love, His kindness, His favour – His grace.
I find this hard to do. I find walking in the truth is easier for me, walking in grace is far more difficult. However, if we are going to be truly Christ like, we need to be full of grace and truth.
Lord Jesus, please help us by the power of your Spirit to be full of grace and truth. May we be full of You.
John 1:14, 17
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth… For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
John 8:31, 32
“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”