"For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)

My wife and I are in a small group with four other couples from First Covenant. All of us are currently parents of toddles and are studying a book on Godly parenting. Recently, a phrase from our book stood out to me, “Grace + Truth over Time = Growth.” In regards to parenting, the author was conveying that grace in our homes must be balanced with truth, and vice-versa, to attain Godly parenting. While I believe this concept is true in parenting, I couldn’t help but think about its broader applications for us.

This devotional will be split into two parts. This week we will focus on grace, and part 2 (to come in early April) will focus on truth.

As Christians, we are called to extend grace to others and that is one of the reasons why I love First Covenant; we are a grace-filled church. We are a people, who realize the grace that has been extended to us through Jesus Christ, and we extend that same grace to others as we are walking down the path of becoming more like Christ together. You see, “grace” doesn’t stop with just the extending of it. The word “grace” in the verse here is the transliterated Greek word, “charis”, which is used 148 times in the New Testament; primarily by the apostle Paul. The word means: “…loving-kindness, favor, of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.” In essence, the purpose of grace is to point people toward the truth of Christ. Grace must be accompanied by truth.

In our society, we as Christians are challenged by culture to be accepting of the behaviors, attitudes, actions, and feelings of others all in the name of “extending grace” as Jesus did; however, our proper responsibility as “grace extenders” is to balance grace with loving truth just as Jesus did. When we read in our Bibles of Jesus extending grace, more often than not we see Jesus accompanying grace with the directing of the individual towards Godly character- that is, truth.

Though this practice of grace and truth may not be popular with our world that likes to chant, “what is right for you may not be right for me”, the Bible is clear. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Paul also says in Romans, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Our role as ministers (which all Christians are) is not to blindly accept the things of this world and call it “grace”, but rather to accompany grace with Godly loving truth in an effort to point others towards Jesus. As we go through this next week, let us be gracious people. As we freely extend grace to others, as God does for us, let us accompany our grace with loving truth that helps others see who Jesus really is, just as God does for us.

To be continued…

[Editor's note: Grace & Truth, Part 2 will be published on Thursday, April 2.]

posted by:
Kevin Goldstein
Director of Worhip

"…Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord you God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…."

Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a

In biblical times, we find God speaking to His people in a variety of ways—through angelic beings, out of a burning bush, face-to-face, through prophets and priests. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I wish God would speak that way today, just so there is no room for misinterpretation. I’m envious when I hear people say things like, “God told me,” or “God said,” with such conviction that there is no doubt in their minds that it came from the Lord and not from their own wants or needs.

So, how does the average person like me “hear” from God? Let me tell you about a recent message I feel like came from God. I’ve been praying for wisdom about a certain issue in my life for well over a year. In the last few months, during my prayer time, I told God that I would just sit tight until I felt for sure that He was giving me direction. Then one day, as I was taking my walk, a verse from the Bible came out of nowhere and along with it the immediate thought about the issue I had been praying about so long. A feeling rushed over me and I just knew He was giving me the answer to my long term prayer. I was giddy and couldn’t wait to get home and read the entire verse in context. I felt such a peace with God’s instruction.

Now it occurs to me that had I not been a Bible reader, I might never have read the verse and therefore He could not have brought it to my mind. So it seems to me that the responsibility of hearing God is not all His. First of all, we need to be listening expectantly. Second, we need to be in the Scripture so that God can use it to speak to us. Third, we need to be obedient to what He says so that we open the door for Him to speak to us again and again. You see, I’m one of those people that believe God speaks to us all the time; we just don’t listen very well. The noise and chaos of the world around us often drowns out His voice. Yet, the more we attune our hearts to Him, the more often we hear Him speak. Sometimes it will be by observing and learning through the lessons of nature and other times through godly counsel from individuals. I’ve heard His “voice” clearly through both, however, only when I was seeking after Him and searching for His will for my life. I don’t think God is obliged to guide us when we can’t give Him more than a cursory acknowledgement when it is convenient.

Be assured that God wants you to hear Him. He doesn’t want to keep anything from you that you need. I invite you today to see what YOU need to do to improve your God hearing.

posted by:
Katie Nielsen
Director of Church Ministries