14 We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)
16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 1:14-18
Questions for Reflection:
Have you thanked Jesus lately for the extravagant, crazy, unfathomable, amazing Grace He has given you? Have you thanked Him for all the inheritance He has given away to run and search for you - and how He still chases after you?
Think about this common phrase, “Like Father, Like Son!” If you want to understand God – look at His son! Jesus “looks like” and “acts like” His father! Spend some time now with today’s scripture from John 1, and this beautiful parable. Look at God as the Father character, and Jesus as the older son, (or how he SHOULD have responded). Let your understanding of God as your Father, and of Jesus giving up everything to chase after you deepen and find a special place in your heart today.
Prayer of the Week:
My dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You now to be restored in You, to be renewed in You to receive Your love and Your life and all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I honor and trust You as my Lord and as my Savior and I surrender every aspect of my life totally and completely to You. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to fill me afresh with Your light and with Your life that I might pray well now as You lead me.
Heavenly Father, I thank You and praise You, worship You and adore You for Your incomprehensible LOVE towards me, Your amazing GRACE towards me, Your bountiful MERCY towards me. Help me now dwell in Your love – the love of my Father in Heaven.
I am a dearly loved child of God!
I have a Father in Heaven who loves me very, very much.
I receive Your Love in this moment with these words to help me.
Your Love is better than life.
Your Grace is sufficient for me.
Your unmerited favor towards me is so undeserved but oh so needed. Thank You!
I confess Father that I am so very prone to self-rule (doing my own thing – being in charge doing my life) and prone to self-righteousness (thinking and acting like my performance in life deserves or has earned a good life). What I now realize is that these are my attempts to replace You, to leave You, to control You. It breaks my heart to think I have treated You this way. I repent of all my attempts at self-rule. I also repent of my motivation for the wrong things I do. I also repent of my attempts at self-righteousness and self-centered motivations I sometimes have for the good things I do. (Spend a couple moments just processing with the Father the What? and the Why? of your self-rule and self-righteousness.)
Jesus, the only place I can truly work through the realities of my life and heart is a place of “grace”. Your heart is that place. I receive Your complete and total forgiveness for all my “self” issues. I rest once again in Your heart - the place of unimaginable love and grace and I surrender to Your transformational leading in my life. I love You and thank You so very much for coming after me, giving your life for me and loving me so very well this day.
Amen
