Anderson Hills

This OR that? This AND that? What is the difference? When it’s “or”, it’s one or the other. But when it’s “and”, you have them both. Grace AND truth. As Christians, we often err on one side or the other, being all of one and none of the other. You’re all about compassion or all about conviction. What we need is both at the same time, all the time. Only Jesus demonstrated a perfect balance of grace and truth in every situation. We never find Him standing against people; He was with and among people. He was always primarily interested in who they were. He showed compassion, empathy, and understanding. Jesus spoke the truth into people’s lives without devaluing them. The motivation for being full of grace AND truth is to be a true disciple of the One we follow.

This OR that? This AND that? What is the difference? When it’s “or”, it’s one or the other. But when it’s “and”, you have them both. Grace AND truth. As Christians, we often err on one side or the other, being all of one and none of the other. You’re all about compassion or all about conviction. What we need is both at the same time, all the time. Only Jesus demonstrated a perfect balance of grace and truth in every situation. We never find Him standing against people; He was with and among people. He was always primarily interested in who they were. He showed compassion, empathy, and understanding. Jesus spoke the truth into people’s lives without devaluing them. The motivation for being full of grace AND truth is to be a true disciple of the One we follow.

“What goes around comes around.” “Your past will come back to haunt you.” “You made your bed, now lie in it.” “It’s all karma.”

These are common messages we hear from people that all point to this one—”You get what you deserve.” Our culture has

always taught that if we work hard, we deserve to be rewarded. And if we mess up, we deserve to be punished. And this gets

transferred to the false belief about how God treats you—”God gives me what I deserve.” This false thinking often leads to

another companion lie—”God is mad at me.” Behind these lies is the idea that your relationship with God and His affection for

you is based on your behavior. But God is a God of mercy and grace, so we do not receive the just punishment we truly deserve

for our sins. Jesus took what we deserve.

“What goes around comes around.” “Your past will come back to haunt you.” “You made your bed, now lie in it.” “It’s all karma.”

These are common messages we hear from people that all point to this one—”You get what you deserve.” Our culture has

always taught that if we work hard, we deserve to be rewarded. And if we mess up, we deserve to be punished. And this gets

transferred to the false belief about how God treats you—”God gives me what I deserve.” This false thinking often leads to

another companion lie—”God is mad at me.” Behind these lies is the idea that your relationship with God and His affection for

you is based on your behavior. But God is a God of mercy and grace, so we do not receive the just punishment we truly deserve

for our sins. Jesus took what we deserve.

Like so many sayings we hear today, this is often taken completely out of context to fit an agenda. This is often said by people

exhibiting behavior that the Bible identifies as sin because they want to justify themselves. This is also said because we live in an

age of moral relativism that rejects the Bible as the foundation of truth. When Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be

judged,” He was not teaching that we abandon our mind or reasoning capability in discerning the behavior of others. We are to

make judgments based on the truth of God’s Word, not our opinions or the latest narrative of political correctness. We are to

humbly and carefully exercise judgment with the objectiveness of the Word, instead of the subjectiveness of our opinions.

Like so many sayings we hear today, this is often taken completely out of context to fit an agenda. This is often said by people

exhibiting behavior that the Bible identifies as sin because they want to justify themselves. This is also said because we live in an

age of moral relativism that rejects the Bible as the foundation of truth. When Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be

judged,” He was not teaching that we abandon our mind or reasoning capability in discerning the behavior of others. We are to

make judgments based on the truth of God’s Word, not our opinions or the latest narrative of political correctness. We are to

humbly and carefully exercise judgment with the objectiveness of the Word, instead of the subjectiveness of our opinions.

Have you heard these? “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” “God helps those who help themselves.” “This too shall

pass.” They are not scriptural truths, but we want to think they are because they sound so nice and comforting and hopeful. Just

like this one—”God won’t give you more than you can handle!” When reading through the Bible, it is pretty evident that this

saying is not at all true. Because the truth is, God does give us more than we can handle—on our own. Just look at people in

Scripture, and even Jesus Himself, to realize that God does indeed allow us to experience some overwhelming and hard-to-

handle situations. We will see there are two main reasons for these tough situations. They cause us to depend on God’s

presence, and they allow us to experience His power.

Have you heard these? “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” “God helps those who help themselves.” “This too shall

pass.” They are not scriptural truths, but we want to think they are because they sound so nice and comforting and hopeful. Just

like this one—”God won’t give you more than you can handle!” When reading through the Bible, it is pretty evident that this

saying is not at all true. Because the truth is, God does give us more than we can handle—on our own. Just look at people in

Scripture, and even Jesus Himself, to realize that God does indeed allow us to experience some overwhelming and hard-to-

handle situations. We will see there are two main reasons for these tough situations. They cause us to depend on God’s

presence, and they allow us to experience His power.

Perhaps you have said this yourself. It is a phrase that is proclaimed with good intentions and usually rooted in love. But it can set someone up for eventual disappointment, discontentment, as well as the pursuit of false gods. This declaration becomes even more detrimental when one assumes that GOD just wants us to be happy! While it is hard to think that God does not want you to be happy, it is far closer to the truth. God doesn’t want you to pursue happiness; He wants you to pursue Him, and not for happiness but for who He is. God wants you holy and blessed—supremely blessed—more than he wants you to be happy. We need to stop worshiping at the altar of happiness and instead worship our awe-inspiring holy God who provides us with everything that matters most.

Perhaps you have said this yourself. It is a phrase that is proclaimed with good intentions and usually rooted in love. But it can set someone up for eventual disappointment, discontentment, as well as the pursuit of false gods. This declaration becomes even more detrimental when one assumes that GOD just wants us to be happy! While it is hard to think that God does not want you to be happy, it is far closer to the truth. God doesn’t want you to pursue happiness; He wants you to pursue Him, and not for happiness but for who He is. God wants you holy and blessed—supremely blessed—more than he wants you to be happy. We need to stop worshiping at the altar of happiness and instead worship our awe-inspiring holy God who provides us with everything that matters most.