Grace and Truth

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

When Jesus showed up, he was full of both grace AND truth. The two go together. At City Church we talk a lot about the Connection/Challenge Matrix (below), which has also been described as the Radical Candor Grid. If you imagine the connection axis as grace and the challenge axis as truth, you can see that Jesus leads us to the ‘GROWTH’ quadrant.

It’s so easy for us to not speak truth to people - and we end up in cozy relationships where people don’t grow. Or to neither speak truth nor give grace - and then there’s no relationship at all! - it’s just boring or dying. Or we give lots of truth but not enough grace and all they feel from us is stress. And it’s not just how we give out grace and truth - it’s how we receive them, because each of us is on that side of this equation, too.

So take some time today and ask God to bring to mind a relationship or two that needs some work moving into the ‘growth’ quadrant. Ask the Spirit to guide you as to how you might get there, how you might be able to give more grace or speak more truth (or receive more of those things). And take a few minutes to sit in quiet before God, allowing that process to begin.