Not Yet

The gospel writer John had many interesting things to write about Jesus, but one of the more intriguing is found in the 14th verse of those opening words known as the Prologue as he spoke of Jesus being, "...full of grace and truth."  (John 1:14)  It is only five words, but it brings more to mind than could be put inside a traditional sermon or a three paragraph blog.  What is really found to be intriguing is Jesus being full of grace.  And, when we read the gospel account John wrote, we see over and over that Jesus responded to people He encountered out of that fullness of grace which resided in Him.   

If the Spirit works to make us after the heart and image of Jesus, He certainly has a lot more to do in most of and surely much to do in me.  While I would like to think that I relate to others out of a heart filled with grace, I must confess that other things compete for space.  I am like the farmer in the old story told back in the time when the white church in these parts was struggling with movement from segregation to integration who supposedly said to his preacher, "I know what the right thing to do is, I just ain't ready to do it yet."    It is not the issue of race which troubles this soul, but the reality that I am not always ready to offer grace to people of other opinions, or folks who express some basic dislike for me for some offense, or those whom I am not anxious to have in my circle of relationships.  It is too easy to offer something other than grace to so many.  I know what the right thing to do is, there are just those moments when I ain't ready to do it yet.    

Such a spirit is so unlike anything seen in the life of Jesus as we see Him walking the roads of Galilee, or the pages of the written Word.  When He found Himself in the presence of those whom His culture declared to be worthless,  or hopelessly filled with sin, or who despised Him, He always seemed to let that fullness of grace spill over on the pages of the story being written between Him and one of the least and unaccepted.  "Come and stay, Holy Spirit, leave me not to my emptiness, but persist in working until this broken heart of mine is restored to hold a full measure of the grace found in the heart of Jesus.  Amen."