Balancing Grace and Truth - Breanna Hayman
“Grace and Truth. Grace and Truth. It’s all about balance, Breanna.”
I can’t even begin to count how many times I have heard that statement come out of my wise mother’s mouth. For the longest time I really wasn’t sure what she meant by that but as I got older, I found myself in situations where I would say it myself and it all of sudden just clicked for me what my mom had been trying to explain to me all those years. Now, I definitely have not mastered this balancing act. It is a daily struggle for me and something that God has really laid on my heart to work on specifically this year.
Grace and Truth. There is a balance. “What does that even mean?”, you may ask. Well, let’s go to the Bible and see if there is an example of someone who had Grace and Truth.
In John 1:14 it says, “And the Word was made 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.” Obviously, this verse is talking about Jesus and I couldn’t think of a more perfect example than Christ, Himself. A few verses down in this chapter it also says in John 1:17, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Now that we know that Jesus is our perfect example of having this balance of Grace and Truth, let’s give some definition to these two words.
Grace. There are many definitions of the word grace in the dictionary but the one we are looking for is Mercy, Pardon; disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency. Immediately when I read this definition, I think of the passage in John 8 where the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in adultery. This woman had committed a wicked sin. According to the law, she deserved to be stoned. But Jesus showed her grace. Instead, He admonished her to go and sin no more. Another example I think of is the disciple Peter. Peter denied Christ three times even after being with Jesus and seeing all of the miracles that He performed. Jesus could have washed his hands of Peter after that. But He showed Peter grace and came and sought out Peter after His resurrection.
Let’s contrast Grace with Truth now. Truth. This definition is a little harder to explain. Have you ever heard of the old saying “that’s just the cold, hard truth”? Truth is something that is fact. There’s something a little abrasive about Truth. Maybe it is because Truth has no wiggle room. What is the Truth is the Truth. There is no room for Grace. When I try to think of an example of Jesus demonstrating Truth in action, my mind automatically goes to the most extreme example, which would be when Jesus destroyed the tables in the temple. The temple was not designed to be a marketplace and that was the Truth. A less violent example would be whenever Jesus would be debating with the Pharisees and He would call them out on their own sin. I liken this to a preacher in the pulpit preaching hard against sins he knows are going on in the church. This demonstration of Truth is right and Biblical, even if it makes us uncomfortable sometimes.
So why didn’t Jesus use the Truth approach with the adulterous woman that was brought to Him? Can you imagine if He would have? It’s what she deserved. She was clearly in the wrong. It’s because Jesus was the perfect balance of Grace and Truth. In every example I gave, Jesus knew exactly what approach to use when dealing with the people involved.
“Okay, Breanna, what is the point you are trying to get at here?” is probably what you are all wondering by now. I promise I do have a point; it’s just taking me a little bit to get there.
Grace and Truth are both equally right and Biblical. There is no denying it. The problem is, that human nature tends to make us more prone to one or the another. Having the balance of both is so very important. What if someone was all Grace? What if they were only Truth? For me, I am more prone to Truth. I prefer to say it how it is and not hold back. The pros to this is that everyone knows where I stand on spiritual things. The cons to this is that my abrasiveness doesn’t draw people to me because they feel I will not leave them any room for error and the Christian life is full of us making errors. For those who are more prone to Grace, people are drawn to them for support and love but the people that they influence tend to be wishy-washy on spiritual things because the person won’t tell them they need to get something right. Now this is not the concrete rule; there are some exceptions. This is just based on my own observations of people and which way they tend to lean towards.
When dealing with people on an every-day basis, it is so vital that we learn to choose the right approach for every situation, especially when dealing with baby Christians and easily-influenced young people. Teens brains are literally rewiring themselves during those years and often times that makes them extremely vulnerable or sensitive.
Balance. It’s all about balance. There is usually room for Grace and Truth both to be used in every situation. It’s dangerous to always use just one or the other, though there is a time and a place to only use one or the other. You can also lovingly and graciously use the Truth approach and also show someone Grace but still make it clear where you stand with Truth. It’s just finding that balance. Every day I struggle with this. I am currently in college and learning how to deal with people in the ministry because that’s what I will be doing the rest of my life. I believe that’s why God has made this such a burden on my heart. We are told to strive to be like Christ and He had this whole Grace and Truth balance down pat. If I want to be used of God someday with how I deal with people, then this concept is something that I am going to have grasp. It’s daunting. Someday I will give an account for my actions and speech and how I react and handle people. This matter of Grace and Truth has become a hot topic of my prayer life. It’s a constant whisper to God to guide me so I don’t have a part in the reason someone decides to forsake God’s will. I know that people are responsible for their own choices to do right or wrong, but I wonder how many times do we give people that last excuse to leave just because we didn’t treat them with the right balance of Grace and Truth. So I say to myself again and again…
“Grace and Truth. Grace and Truth. It’s all about balance, Breanna.”