Grace For Grace
John 1:14 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 1:16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
The first thing we should pay close attention to in these passages is how it describes the essence of Christ, whom the Father begot.
He is full of grace and truth.
The second thing is how it states His glory was beheld. The works that Jesus did were a manifestation of His glory.
The third thing is this matter of His fullness. Such as Jesus had He gave. Jesus gave out of His fullness.
The fourth thing is the matter of grace for grace, as it is the primary focus of today’s encouragement.
You see, grace is unmerited favor. It is favor you cannot earn.
The term grace for grace is akin to being told you were given favor to get favor. Many have sought to define it as favor stacked upon favor.
No matter how you choose to look at it, it is an extraordinary gift to be given. These two verses of Scripture describe what I believe to be one the most precious and great revelations there is.
We are given insight into who Jesus is, what Jesus is like, and what Jesus has done for us.
Jesus personified the goodness and generosity of God the Father. Jesus demonstrated the willingness of God to be a great benefactor and to bless.
To assure this reality for those of us who would believe Jesus gave favor to us for us to have favor.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
I brought nothing any greater or any more than another in which I could boast it would turn the eye of God to me more so than another. I have nothing by which to boast other than His goodness and generosity towards me. You are in the same boat I am in regarding this matter. Neither of us has anything to boast about concerning earning favor from God.
Our privilege of having His fullness and the favor to have favor is purely a gift rooted in His goodness and generosity, which is freely given to all who will believe. In this is revealed God’s amazing love, goodness, and generosity. Grace for grace brings us boldly before Him at the throne of grace to find mercy to help in our time of need.
I encourage you to always take advantage of what has so freely and generously been given to you in Christ Jesus. I implore you today not to waste your grace for grace!
