Truth & Grace 2

John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of being full of grace and truth.

Warning – Truth Bombs to follow.

Jesus was full of truth and grace. Case in point, the woman at the well. She admits she has no husband. In John 4:17-18 Jesus replies, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

Woah, Truth Bomb dropped. In today’s vernacular, Jesus basically says, “Yes, you have been a whore, but at least you’ve been honest about it.”

This sort of “brutal” honesty is something lacking in the modern church, in my opinion. So many times we here “don’t judge me”, or “careful, you don’t want to judge someone.” Many times people refer back to John 7:3, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye.”

In today’s church we seem to avoid calling things for what they are, for fear of hurting someone’s feelings, judging, etc. I think we have the concept of judging messed up. I see judging as looking at someone who dresses differently or looks differently and coming to a conclusion about them, without knowing all the facts. That’s just one example.

It’s not judging to say, “hey, you really sliced that drive there, Tiger.” It’s truth based on an observation.

It’s not judging when your brother/sister is clearly living in sin and you point it out, lovingly and gracefully to them. In fact, your doing them a favor.

The trick is to find the balance between truth and grace. Too much truth with no grace leads to hopelessness on the end of the one being Truth Bombed. Too much grace without truth leads people into a false sense of themselves that’s not grounded in the reality of their situation.

Truth: Jesus calls Peter Satan when He gets in the way of God’s plan.

Grace: Jesus restores Peter to fellowship after the resurrection and builds His church on Peter.

Truth: Jesus confronts the woman about to be stoned by the Pharisees.

Grace: Jesus turns away the Pharisees and saves the woman’s life.

I could go on and on with different examples of the balance between truth and grace in Jesus’ life. Jesus was truth, and he was grace.

For a cultural reference, look at the example of Whitney Houston. Now, I don’t mean to disparage the dead. However, let’s take a look at her life. Was she an insanely talented singer? Definitely. And apparently gave her life to Jesus at some point. Nobody knows that for certain except God and Whitney.

But let’s also face the facts – she was a drug addict the past 10+ years of her life. That’s no condemnation or judgment of her. It’s just a fact. No different than saying, “Barack Obama is the current President of the United States.” I find it a little odd that death tends to make us look at people through rose-colored glasses. Again, no slap at Whitney. But she had issues. Issues that someone in her life should have stood up against and seen that she got help with. I don’t know, perhaps they did. But it seems that all too often when it comes to celebrities their inner circles amount to nothing more than “yes men” who enable them.

What a tragic loss of life at such a young age. I think it’s fair to say that Whitney battled demons. We all do. There is nothing judgmental in that statement. It’s just a fact.

Today, take a look at yourself. Ask yourself, “am I dropping too much truth on people with no helping of grace to go alongside?” Or perhaps, “am I showing so much grace that I’m shielding someone from the truth of their situation – a situation that definitely needs the truth to shine through?”

May we all strive to be like Jesus – full of truth AND grace.