Like many of you, I pray for the Lord to give me a word and verse He wants me to focus on to improve my spiritual witness and my walk in the New Year. At first, I chose ‘persistent’ for 2024, but my husband and friends quickly squelched that one reminding me that I already am a very persistent person in my faith and life. It must be a word where I need to improve.
As I prayed about my 2024 word, the Lord revealed that I needed a heavy dose of grace in my communication and actions. What I probably needed the most was patience, but we all know it’s not a good idea to pray for that or the Lord might give you an abundance of experiences requiring patience. However, patience is often required to exhibit grace.
The Scripture that best reflects my pursuit of grace is Colossians 4:6 “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
I probably would’ve made a good lawyer because I do have skills to win an argument or get my point across, but I may win the case and lose the relationship. I first became awakened to focusing on grace when our Couples Group did The Chosen Bible Study, which covers the Sermon on the Mount. Lesson 3 was on Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” In that week’s study, two Scripture passages hit home to me.
1 Peter 5:5 ESV “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Eph. 2:4-7 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Then we came to Lesson 5, The Merciful and Their Mandate, with Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
We were reminded that the ability to reflect meekness, mercy, and thus grace, comes from the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17
So my 2024 word is ‘grace’ and the Scripture I will pray repeatedly is Colossians 4:6. But what about the Spirit of truth?
Balancing Grace and Truth
John 1:17 says, For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Not Grace or Truth. Not Grace versus Truth. Grace and Truth. Yes, they can occur simultaneously, but it takes work. Displaying both grace and truth is a delicate balance, and often, we err towards one side or the other.
Christians often err on the side of grace resulting in sin not only tolerated, accepted, and overlooked, but made lawful and legal. We know the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” but abortion is still legal in many states and called a “woman’s choice.” The Bible clearly states that homosexuality is a sin and marriage is between a man and a woman, but homosexual marriage is legal in America and called a lifestyle choice.
Sin has always been a choice, that’s why God sent His Son to earth to offer us mercy and grace. Not grace to keep on sinning . . . but grace to choose to turn from our wicked ways, seek forgiveness, and accept eternal life with Christ. An undeserved second chance to live a righteous life— the balance of grace and truth.
When faced with a sinful situation, many Christians fear sounding judgmental so their response is full of grace but evades the truth. This can appear to condone the sinful behavior. Or we’re so shocked or appalled at the sin we know God hates that we slam the person with biblical truth. Very few people are receptive to a condemning approach.
I tend to err on the side of wanting the truth told, but not always presenting it in a grace-filled manner. How do we not condemn, but not condone? How can we tell the truth, but still extend grace?
Truth or Grace?
“You’re late!” A greeting to the last arriving meeting members. Truth but no Grace.
“Where are you going to live?” A response to a Christian who announces she’s going to live with her boyfriend. Grace but no Truth.
“That dress looks terrible on you.” Truth but no Grace.
“It’s alright. No problem.” A reply to a friend backing out on an important commitment. Grace but no Truth.
“You’re going to hell if you keep up that behavior!” Truth but no Grace.
“Ok, I understand…” Said to the friend you babysat for numerous times, but when you ask to do a trade, she’s too busy. Grace but no Truth.
“Congratulations!” A gay couple tells you they are getting married. Grace but no Truth
Follow Jesus’ Example
Randy Alcorn wrote an excellent book, The Grace and Truth Paradox: Responding with Christ-like Balance. Randy points out that the early church drew thousands to Jesus by copying the only model they had at the time…Jesus Himself. Today, we often ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” Those people knew what Jesus would do. We could arrive at a number of adjectives describing the character of Christ that would let us know what He would do today, but Randy suggests all reduce to two character qualities…yes only two!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…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” John 1:1, 14.
Jesus was full of both grace and truth ALL the time. He had the perfect balance of justice and mercy. Not grace one time and truth another time. Everything He did and everything He said embodied both character qualities. Notice that grace comes first in the verse because it was a new concept to the early Christians. They knew about the truth of the law from the Old Testament, but the grace of forgiveness that Jesus brought was brand new to them.
Even in Jesus’ day, with his example for them to emulate, some like the Pharisees still chose to rely only on truth, and we call them legalists. Jesus pointed out that the law could only reveal sin, but only the grace of Jesus Christ could remove it.
We want others to know Jesus by what they see in our life, but then we have to ask ourselves what do they see in us? Are we full of grace and truth? Does it seem like a paradox sometimes? It shouldn’t. Randy points out that grace without truth, or truth without grace, are like a bird without one wing.
Don’t Bait and Switch
Communicating with grace and truth is not telling someone something flattering, then zinging them with truth. That bait and switch approach is never effective. They feel manipulated and tricked. Have you ever had that happen where you wonder: Did they just compliment or chastise me? Telling the truth should never cause confusion. It needs to be clear and concise.
Grace also doesn’t mean sugarcoating. That’s not what Jesus did. The passage in John 4:7-26 with Jesus and the Samaritan woman is a pattern for displaying grace and truth. Notice Jesus didn’t compliment the woman, then slam her with the truth. He first asked her a question, “Will you give me a drink?” which was a display of grace since Jews didn’t talk to Samaritans. The remainder of the passage is an example of Jesus telling the truth with grace. He didn’t avoid the truth because it would embarrass or put her on the spot. He confronted her with the truth of her sin of living with a man that wasn’t her husband then mercifully offered her the grace of forgiveness and eternal life. And what was the result? The woman left her sinful life and became one of the first women evangelists (John 4:28-30).
What About You and Me?
We can check ourselves with Randy Alcorn’s “Two Point Checklist” to help determine if we are a grace and truth Christian.
1. Are nonbelievers uncomfortable around you?
It could be you are erring on the side of legalistic truth. People were drawn to Christ, who was both grace and truth, but ran from the Pharisees who had only the ‘truth.’
2. Do all nonbelievers like you?
A red flag you’re erring on the side of grace. The true spirit of grace is that you love enough to tell the biblical truth and share the Gospel.
Truth without grace: Destroys Crushes
Grace without truth: Deceives Cowardly
Grace and Truth together: Draws Christ
God’s truths are guardrails in life to prevent us from going over the cliff into the sinful abyss, not tools for beating us over the head. Truth is a lifeline, not a weapon. Truth can release someone from bondage or rescue him or her from certain death. When we choose to bypass truth and go straight to grace, it’s no longer grace. Offering someone grace without the truth—the guardrail that protects and sets us free to know the true grace of Jesus—is sending them over the cliff in a loving way.
A quote from Randy’s book: “Truth without grace breeds a self-righteous legalism that poisons the church and pushes the world away from Christ. Grace without truth breeds moral indifference and keeps people from seeing their need for Christ. Attempts to ‘soften’ the gospel by minimizing truth keep people from Jesus. Attempts to ‘toughen’ the gospel by minimizing grace keep people from Jesus. It’s not enough for us to offer grace or truth. We must offer both.”
This balance is something most of us will spend a lifetime trying to achieve and only Jesus was perfect at it, but the Holy Spirit will help us if we ask. Tricia McCary Rhodes writes in Taking Up Your Cross, “To be humble is to live always with poignant awareness of God’s extravagant grace poured out in exchange for our complete inadequacy.” Isn’t that the TRUTH!
“If we get it wrong about Jesus, it doesn’t matter what else we get right.” —Randy Alcorn
In the first week of the New Year, I’ve heard the Holy Spirit repeatedly nudging me to remember grace or reminding me I bypassed it! The Holy Spirit and I are going to do a lot of communicating this year!
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Ps. 86:15
How about you? Did you pick a word and Scripture to guide you through 2024? Please share it with me.
Leave your comment here and I will reply!
Great examples of truth and grace…that engaged my thinking about what comes out of my mouth. Interestingly the Lord has been pricking my heart in those areas. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of repenting and asking forgiveness. Sometimes the ‘tone’ of our voices relay the wrong message unintentionally. I, especially am trying to be more aware of how I come across to others. The Lord knows my heart ❤️ I would never intentionally hurt someone with my words or actions.
You make another good point Kathy. I’ve also been told the tone of my voice indicates something I wasn’t intending. Hopefully focusing on grace will reflect in my conversations (Col. 4:6)
This is excellent, Janet. The Lord keeps reminding me of my former life so my verse this year is Matthew 7:3-5.where Jesus said, “why do you look at the speck that is in your bother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” Back in 1978 my best friend loved me into the kingdom of God. She could have pointed out my sinful lifestyle or tried to convict me of my sins but it was the Holy Spirit through her prayers .If she had condemned me in or brought up politics, I would have walked away. I was convicted when I finally started reading the Bible. Today I’m seeing more law than grace in so many churches. 🙁 She never once got angry with me when I fought the truth of the Bible and I did that!
Thank you for your testimony Linda. I have a little different story during my backsliding years I had a friend that showed me too much grace and not enough convicting truth. It was the unbending truth told by Pastor Greg Laurie that reached me. I actually see a lot of churches trying to match the culture and erring on the side of grace and sending people over the cliff in a loving way as I wrote in the blog.
Only Jesus had the perfect balance of grace and truth. I think each of us responds from our backgrounds and temperaments. Praying the Holy Spirit guides me and my conversations.
Janet, I so appreciate your transparency on this important issue. I know I struggle with leaning too far one way or the other. I need to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit to have the right balance of grace and truth. I choose to focus on both grace and truth for 2024. Thank you for your faithful service to our Lord. I always look forward to your Monday morning blogs!
We’ll both being drawing on the power of the Holy Spirit Debbie! I’m happy that the Monday Morning Blogs bless you. It’s a joy writing them as the Lord leads.
As always, Janet, your words are willed with truth and grace. Thank you for being a great example.
So kind of you Kathy, but God continues to show me where I need more grace. Iron sharpening iron my friend.
Janet, I loved your article. Your writing was so humble and raw. To share from your heart was very touching to me as your friend. We all have areas that we need to improve, where God through His Holy Spirit reveals to us. You know my word. It is HOPE. My hope is in the Lord and with that comes a stronger faith. He is teaching me so much through my devotions and verses I come across. It was very obvious what my word was to be this year. Just like, I think GRACE is a perfect word for you too. Thank you for being so open and honest. I loved the way you portrayed the fact that we need grace and truth. You are right. There is a fine line. I believe that’s where God steps in to show us if we are listening to His leading. Thank you again dear friend. Much love, Janet S
We’ll both be tested with our chosen words this year but that’s when we know it’s an issue we need to focus on in our life. Prayers for both of us as I work on grace and you on hope.