Mike Focht 10/4/2024
Instability is a sign of immaturity. Peter knew this exceptionally well. It is Peter’s instability that endears him to us. We, too, understand waves of love and loyalty as well as waves of fear and denial. As Peter followed Jesus, he came to a place of remarkable stability in his life. That is part of why Peter is so quick to encourage us toward growth.
One place that Peter particularly called for a healthy balance was in the combination of grace and truth. Peter calls all believers to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We all admit that truth and grace are necessary elements in the Christian life, but few call for both, as Peter did. Peter knew that the balance of grace and truth was key.
Spiritual immaturity often reveals itself in an unbalanced expression of grace or truth. In fear of offending others, some Christians call for grace in every situation. They hold God’s love, mercy, and compassion in a way that almost precludes the logical outworking of truth in various circumstances. For them, grace that includes the hard lines of truth feels wrong and is wrong.
On the other side, immature believers make truth the taskmaster of God’s grace. They carve the Body of Christ and Christians—babes or mature believers—into rigid sections of truth. Legalistically, they use God’s truth to tear down and divide rather than give light and edify. God’s truth soon becomes what makes them different from everyone else and isolated from everyone else.
The problem, of course, is that there is a bit of truth in each reaction. God’s grace is remarkable, and His truth is sure. So it is sometimes hard to figure out how each of these realities is to be expressed situation by situation. Peter would counsel us to ensure we are growing in and expressing both. It is not just truth that is essential or just grace that is essential—both of them are essential! We need truthful grace and graceful truth.
Of course, Jesus is the ultimate example of this. He could both graciously honor His mother by taking care of her and make it clear to her that He was on earth to be about His Father’s business. Jesus could gracefully point out the folly of the disciples as they argued over which of them was the greatest while also instructing them that servants and those who have childlike faith are the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus could truthfully rebuke the disciples’ weak faith while graciously calming the storm. Jesus could graciously bless Peter for his confession and then truthfully rebuke Peter for savoring the things of men. Jesus could graciously wash Judas’ feet and call him a friend but also truthfully pronounce that it would be better that the man who betrayed Him was never born!
What an incredible and beautiful Savior who has shown us the path of life! Our Lord and Savior is so perfect and holy and loving and just! You, O Lord, teach us that Christ-like grace never interferes with the truth of God, and Christ-like truth never interferes with the grace of God. Please, our Savior and Example, lead us in the grace and knowledge of who You are!
If we want to become balanced Christians, we must learn to hold truth firmly in one hand and the grace of God firmly in the other. We will never be perfect, but neither was Peter. If we continue to look at our perfect Savior and follow Him, we will become balanced in grace and truth like Peter before us. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.