KONOMALA

Jesus was full of grace and truth

Take a few minutes to think about the depth of that simple description. In revealing God Himself, Jesus perfectly embodied the fullness of God in how He lived a human life on this earth. 

Grace … always there and loving, always giving and kind, always patient and never giving up

Truth … always consistent, never wavering or compromising, always concerned about what’s best and right, always wise and discerning

Read back through the gospels and notice the mess of Jesus’ disciples, His family, His country, His “church”. And then notice how Jesus lives in the middle of it all. He walked in lock-step with the Spirit, perfectly gracious and perfectly right. Thank God that we have the very same Spirit who was in Jesus, enabling and empowering that life in us today. We already know what life looks like without His Spirit … full of all kinds of self-centered nastiness, not so much grace and truth. 

Our story from a month ago was a little highlight moment to celebrate and be encouraged by – we are slowly growing in our belief that we actually do need each other in the church as we walk with Jesus. 

Satan doesn’t want anything more to change in our lives though. He is working very intentionally to divide and discourage us. He wants to short circuit anything good that God is doing in us. His entire system is designed to take advantage and deceive us in any way possible.

Highlights are nice, and we try to recognize them with thankfulness. Then all the other non-highlight moments require a lot of grace and truth. We had a recent situation where things felt dire for a minute … or a week. The messiest parts of our lives in the church became a very public topic for discussion, and we needed the Spirit who guided and empowered Jesus to guide and empower us. 

He did. 

One specific couple have been our close friends and the core of the church for our whole time in this community. Their grown kids have often been a source of pain & embarrassment for them, and this situation just amplified it all. It’s still a tough situation to navigate, but it’s been a good learning moment for each of us in the church to recognize how we can depend on each other and be together in the middle of hard personal stuff. 

This is real life. 

How are we going to respond when we personally struggle in sin or have to carry other peoples’ shame? How will grace and truth inform our thinking, our words, and our actions towards others? Where will our stability, strength, and discernment come from? 

There is no grace and truth inherent in our natural flesh and self-cultivated patterns of life. That’s why we need an entirely different life … Jesus’.
He is our answer to every need in the mess of our lives.
He is the way to have life today and for eternity.

Now, we have been given everything we need for a truly good life in godliness. God’s written word reveals all that we need to know and believe. His Spirit is alive and with us to guide, remind, and empower us for every nuanced moment. And His family is around us to lovingly bring truth in the ways that we need it most. 

Please Pray 

Pray that we grow more together and unified as a church as we walk through hard things together. And pray that we wouldn’t give up when it stays hard. 

Pray that we would recognize Satan’s strategies clearly and fight alongside each other in grace and truth. And pray that we would be humble together in fighting against our own flesh’s deadly patterns and thoughts. 

Pray for our marriages, parenting, and friendships. People are the point … and we have profound opportunities together.