“From Jesus’ Fullness We Have Received, Grace Upon Grace” John 1:16
What is “Jesus’ Fullness”? Did Jesus eat too much?!
The “fullness” of Jesus is the life of God found in Jesus. This “fullness” is the “abundant life” that Jesus said he came to give us.
This “fullness,” this “abundant life,” doesn’t refer to cars, home, food, vacation, education etc etc (as wonderful as those things are!).
The fullness, the abundant life that God gives us in Jesus is God’s own life—eternal life. We receive God’s life here and now. The fullness we receive from Jesus is love, justice, peace, joy. And those gifts, that fullness, come to us as we unite our lives with Jesus in faith and love.
John 1:16 uses one word to describe the fullness of divine life: “grace.” The “fullness of Jesus” comes to us as “grace”—something we haven’t earned, something we don’t deserve. What a blessing! What a lift it gives to our lives to realize that God loves us so!
Because we have been blessed so “fully” and so “freely,” we are moved to give our gifts of money to the ministries of Jesus in our church. What a joy to be able to do that!
God is the greatest giver of all, and one of the ways that our lives are transformed is by giving our time, talents and money to the Lord.
Please join me in making a generous—even sacrificial—pledge to support the ministries of Jesus in our church!
In Christ’s love, in Jesus’ fullness,
David
PS: Have you ever thought about “tithing”—giving 10% of your income to the Lord? Go to this link on the UCC web site and read one person’s story about how she began to tithe. www.ucc.org/stewardship/tithing/
