“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17 NIV),
My husband and I were doing our morning devotional. In all honesty, we were “catching up,” as we were three days behind. The devotionals are about 5 minutes long. I read the text to Ron. A reflection at the end asks a question that gets the conversation started. I love to hear Ron’s responses. Today’s was a particular favorite.
The question was essentially, are you more truth or grace?
Each of us tends towards one or the other. I lean towards truth more than grace, my husband more grace than truth.
As a Christ follower, Jesus has given us direction on how we’re supposed to live our lives. For instance the 10 Commandments is a guide to having healthy relationships. The first five are about our relationship with God: no other gods, idols, worshiping other gods or using His name in vain and one day a week for God. The last five about our relationship with others: honor mom and dad, no murder, adultery, stealing or lying. If we do those things, they will help us have healthy relationships.
Truth people want everything cut and dry. If you lie to someone, you suffer the consequences. People who lean towards truth, struggle to let people off of the hook when they “break a rule.” In other words, if someone lies to me, I have a hard time forgiving them. Grace is remembering, I too am a liar. We have all lied. If we say we haven’t, we’re lying.
Ron is grace oriented. He has the softest heart in the world, but struggles with putting his foot down. For instance, he’s doing maintenance work on our front door. I’ve asked him repeatedly to let me help, to which he kindly says, “No thanks.” I know the truth in this situation. He doesn’t want my help because he’s afraid I will injure myself. I’m a bull in a china shop. He doesn’t want to hurt my feelings by telling me the truth. He’s grace.
We need both. God is the perfect blend of both. He pairs us with people who balances out whichever way we lean.
Ron tries to spare my feelings: grace. I don’t try to spare his: truth. The two of us together make the perfect blend of both. We balance each other’s leanings when we meet in the middle. We strive for truth and grace together.
Jesus is truth and grace. He knows we’re not perfect, He loves us anyway: truth and grace. He couldn’t exist any other way. He knows the law, He fulfilled the law so we don’t have too. He understands we can’t. None of us can keep all of the laws. We needed someone who could. Jesus is that person. Truth AND grace.
Why I love Ron? He understands the “and.”
Truth AND grace, not truth OR grace. We don’t have a choice. We can’t be one or the other, we have to be both.
