Up Front and Personal

I was impressed this morning as I read from John 1:17 as to how upfront and personal the Lord Jesus Christ wants to be with us!  This verse tells us how “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (KJV)  Another translation says that “grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ.” (English Majority Text Version)  This statement says to me that the giving of the law in the Old Testament was a very impersonal act, while the ministry of grace and truth was hand delivered in the personage of Jesus.

When you think about it, this makes perfect sense, as the Jews were not born again and were not able to comprehend a personal relationship with God.  Under the new covenant and the sacrifice of Jesus, we are now afforded the ability to have our once dead spirits to be made alive again and live in a close personal relationship with our heavenly Father.

The more time we spend with Jesus and His Word, the more of His grace and truth we will gain!  Kind of simple isn’t it?  Then why don’t we do it?  I have always been good at spending the first part of my day with the Lord.  Like I have mentioned before, even when I had to leave the house at 2:30 in the morning to travel up to two hours to get to a Home Depot Store that my team was merchandizing, I still made sure that I was up early enough to get some Word-time!

But, I am not always as persistent to get into the Word during the late afternoon hours when I am usually beginning to feel the stress and strain of the day.  It is just too easy for me to find an excuse, or to be distracted by some other activity!  I am positive that some moments spent in the Word at this time of day would greatly relieve the stress more than any other action does.

So I guess it comes down to the question of how serious am I about having the grace and truth of God working in and through me?  Just how much do I desire to be used of Him?  How badly do I want the security and immovable confidence in the truth and favor of His promises to be my foundation when the difficulties of life seem to be taking center stage?  How upfront and personal do I want to be with Jesus?

These are some good questions!  One’s that I think we all have to answer…  Maybe today is the day, or the week to start that self-examination process.  Have a great week.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”

PS:  Good News!  It looks like there's going to be another wedding in our family this summer... Our youngest son just announced his engagement to his lovely fiancé yesterday!  Congratulations and Blessings to Jeremy and Aubrey!!!