Posts Tagged ‘expose evil’

Christmas is presented differently in the Gospel of John as we get no details of the trip to Bethlehem or the instructions of the angels to Mary and Joseph. What it says is, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Within that sentence are the truths that:

• Christ became a man
• He dwelt on earth as a man
• Mankind could see His glory as the Son of God
• He was the only begotten Son of God
• He was full of grace
• He was full of truth

John gives us much more about Him so we can understand who He is. Just in the verses leading up to this one (14), we learn He is “the Word,” He was with God in the beginning, and He is God. All things were made though Him, nothing was made without Him. He was the light of men that shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. To those who would receive Him, He gave the right to become the children of God.

This is the God/Man that Romans 8:29 tells us predestined us to be conformed to His image.

Looking at John 1:14 and Romans 8:29 raises the question, “Am I (are we) conformed to the image of the One who is full of grace and truth?”

In our culture, we are all eager to show the grace of God (as we should be). We want to offer grace to anyone about anything. A spouse who has a burst of anger, a child who deliberately knocks down another child’s blocks in a temper tantrum, the sister in the Lord who slighted us and the mailman who lost our packages.

Forgiveness and mercy are aspects of grace, just not the only aspects.

What about the spouse who has blasted us for the 5^th time in a week? The one who says he is sorry but then does the same thing repeatedly? What about the child who shows no actual remorse or regret for their terroristic acts but will say they are sorry to their sibling when forced? The sister in the Lord who is never kind, unless she needs us to do something? What about the one whose yes is not reliably yes and her no is not reliably no?

Is it gracious behavior to “let it go” and “say nothing?” What about the falsehoods we see on social media? Many of them show no grace and others show no truth? How discerning must we be about those arguments? (The answer requires another post!).

Here is the truth about grace – it is not grace if truth is not addressed.

“Just forgiving” sounds lovely but we cannot complain the next time we are wronged if we have not spoken the truth the first time. Because of the cultural standard of, “Never say anything that anyone can interpret as offensive or corrective, ever,” we are held to a standard that is unbiblical. We have to remember to obey God rather than man.

The Bible tells us to approach the ones we have something against and tell them (truthfully) what it is (Matthew 18:15-18). Deuteronomy makes it clear that a woman who is assaulted is to cry out and tell someone (Deuteronomy 22:23-27). Today, we have women scared to tell anyone if an assault happens. Many fear the criminal more than they trust the “justice” system.

As we moved away from the Lord as our God, Father and Lawgiver, we have moved away from any justice. As we have moved away from His Word, no evil is to be exposed, just tolerated (Ephesians 5:11).

The question remains, are we being conformed to the image of Christ? Are we full of, or on our way to being full of, grace and truth as our Savior is?

So much Truth has been lost in our culture. It is an aspect of the grace of God that we exhibit when we hold others (even the governing bodies of our culture) to the truth of God’s Word. Some will hate our words and malign us when we speak God’s Words of Truth. They want our grace but not our truth!

Even though we all value grace, here is a truth:  There is no grace without truth.