Are you a follower of Jesus? Good for you. It means you are striving to become more like him, right? Our calling and goal are to be more like Christ and act more like Jesus. But what does it mean exactly? How can we go about it? The best way is to get to know him personally and we can do that by reading the Bible. The gospel of John declares Jesus was full of grace and truth. So should we be that too?

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. (John 1:14, NIV)

Indeed, Jesus was full of grace and truth. Not just full of grace or full of truth. And not 50% of grace and 50% of truth but 100% of grace and 100% of truth. This is our goal, folks.

Yet we tend to lean either on grace or truth. Or maybe we are half grace and half-truth. But here it says Jesus was full of grace and truth. So, if we want to become like Jesus, we need to strive to be full of grace and truth as well.

What does this mean in real life? It means we need to embody both grace and truth simultaneously. We can’t just choose grace here and truth there, we need to be all grace and all truth all the time. It is indeed a tall order, and we need the power of God to do so. We need his wisdom and guidance in this. Thankfully, Jesus showed us how it is done. He loved people and people flocked to him because of this. But he also was adamant about people needing to repent and turn to God.

Full of grace and truth

Grace and truth are best together. Christianity is not just a wishy-washy feel-good theology. It is God’s power for us. And Christianity is not a better-knowing truth-telling mission either. Instead, Christianity is God’s mission to save all people from their sins and lavish them with his love.

If we want to be part of this mission, we need to live like Jesus, full of grace and full of truth. Otherwise, we will misrepresent God’s intentions. Grace is beyond wonderful, but it can’t be cheap grace. And the truth is amazing as well, but it can’t become a legalistic weapon either.

So, what to do then? Emerge yourself in the curriculum of grace and truth. Ask Jesus to fill you to the brim with both. Don’t just be satisfied with half-truths or half-grace. Then go and love people just like Jesus did. You can’t do it, but God can. And that’s the whole point: let God shine through you!

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your calling us to be like Jesus.
It also keeps us close to you because we can’t do that alone.
We need you, so we surrender to you.
Fill us to the brim with your grace and truth.
We want to become like Jesus.
Make it happen and use us for your glory.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

P.S.

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim. No matter where you are or what is going on in your life, God is with you. When you have Jesus, you have everything. Sometimes we need to experience hard times so that we really understand what is really important and what’s not. Anyhow, let’s strive to become more like Jesus. The closer we are to Jesus, the more blessed we are. No matter what. So blessings to you, my dear friend. You are loved and cherished. Embrace it!