Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai
Gracious Truthfulness
"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
- John 1:17, KJV
The law, which was given to Israel through Moses, presented strict yet just rules for men. It demands justice and shows no mercy to the violator.
But grace and truth, which were given to man through Jesus Christ, are quite different things. Truth shows us the deeper meaning of the law, revealing to us that we are sinners who deserve to be punished. Yet grace shows us the loving mercy of God Who wants to cleanse us from our sins to restore us to Himself. So God's nature of being perfectly good and perfectly just was revealed when Moses delivered His holy law. But in the fullness of time, His nature of being gracious and truthful was revealed when Jesus Christ came and became a man (v. 14).
This can be a reminder for me about my attitude of being at all times brutally honest. While it is sometimes good to be brutally honest, brutal honesty is not always good. It is true that Jesus sometimes speaks mean words (Matthew 16:23, 23:13-39). But I must not forget His nature of being meek, that a "bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory" (Matthew 12:20, KJV). Everyone is imperfect and broken because of sin. And as a follower of Christ, I must be gentle and caring to everyone (except of course for cases that demand harsh truthfulness).
It is true that God wants me to speak truth at all times, but as His son, He wants me to be like Him in His gracious truthfulness. After all, brutal honesty is a childish attitude, and it is God's will that I should mature (Luke 13:6-9). Just as what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (KJV).
This whole Christmas season, let us follow the example of gracious truthfulness that God has demonstrated through the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Shim'onai :D
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