Grace and truth

Jesus was 'full of grace and truth'.

Been thinking a bit about the delicate balance between what you might call grace (patience, give-and-take, over-looking wrong) and truth (dicipline, challenging and correcting wrong behaviour, gripping looseness when it rears its head in church life).

Yes, it's come about because of one or two or five situations where, as a leader, I face the dilemma of how to deal with 'less than holy' behaviour and choices from some of those I lead. One the one hand, 'love is kind' and I must (and want to) bear with people. On the other hand, there are times when drift and compromise need challenging - if nothing else for the sake of others who need the security of a clear example...

I was thinking about Jesus who was 'full of grace and truth'.

Full of grace and truth, all the time. Always full of grace without thereby losing truth. Always full of truth without thereby losing grace. All His grace was utterly truthful - no hint of compromise with darkness or sin; all His truth was utterly gracious - no hint of harshness or blank condemnation.

Me? Sometimes I'm full of grace (just about). Sometimes I'm full of truth (more or less). But somehow, I stuggle to be both - and at once! My 'grace' is often tainted with something suspiciously like fear of confrontation. My 'truth' is often polluted with something alarmingly like anger and frustration.

But the reality is that grace and truth are not opposites. It is possible to be always full of both.

How?

Well, I guess I'd better get a little closer to Jesus and see how He does it...