i've got a "prayer blog" that i post some of my prayer life on for a few different reasons. anyway... i updated it last week and got a really cool comment form someone i don't know. although i run in circles with many who post/comment/blog with alter egos, so i may know them well. it doesn't really matter, it seems to be a good conversation so far.
so anyway, i thought i'd share it here and invite you in on the discussion. the following will be: part of my prayer post, followed by comments, then my comments, and then a purple dinosaur named mitch... sorry.
NATHANSEAN said...personal: in multiple situations, i am praying that i am able to discern between extending grace and speaking truth. finding the balance between the two can be like walking a tightrope. though in many situations it is more like finding the right mixture of both. i am also praying for sharp vision, humble leadership, God's wisdom, and encouragement i can trust. i am also hoping to lock up a few mentors, so i am praying they will work out and be a positive thing in moving me closer to being my original creation.JENIFFER JUST said... At first, I felt like asking you what you feel the difference is between extending grace and speaking the truth so as to clarify it to me.
But it dawned on me what the difference was. So here goes, do feel free to comment on what I have to say. I would think that I would come to appreciate it.
I think speaking the truth is one way to extend grace. So speaking the truth is an extension of grace. Speaking the truth or truthfully is one way that humans can extend "God's" grace.
But to speak the truth, one may need to live the truth as well. To live the truth, one needs to listen to oneself and learn from the past, our collective and individual pasts. For each individual to completely or in large part learn from their pasts, as a species, we ought to learn from our past.
What do you think? 7:25 AM
JENIFFER JUST said... I have more to say and this is by no means an exhaustive definition on both of these terms just a spontaneous thought, gathered by years, of deep reflection amongst other things. 7:27 AM
NATHANSEAN said…jeniffer just...
i agree that grace and truth go hand in hand, or as you say, an extension. but i see grace as an extension of truth just as i see truth as an extension of grace.
to live in truth is to live in grace.
to live in grace is to live in truth.
oddly enough though, the two words/concepts/practices are not the same thing.
but really they are relational.
to each other... and in practice.
when that relationship gets out of balance and swings heavy on the truth, it can lead to things like arrogance, ignorance, bitterness, pain, injustice, bigotry, etc. etc.
when that relationship gets out of balance and swings heavy on the grace, it can lead to things like apathy, carelessness, ignorance, pain , injustice, etc. etc.
balance, we must remember, is not always a 50/50 thing. especially when it comes to truth and grace. i like the imagery of the ying-yang. i know it has become a pop-culture icon, but in it, to me, is a great picture of balance... of relational balance.
in all truth we find grace, and in all grace we find truth. but they may not always be in the same amount/intensity/frequency etc., but they are not apart from each other. they are in relationship.
when we do find the right relationship between the two, and then bring it to the appropriate context, we have a beautiful pathway that leads to redemption.
redemption of spirit, redemption of relationships, redemption of emotion, redemption of intellect...
anyway... like you, this is not an exhaustive definition...
i do think that extending grace and speaking truth need to be expressed in delicate balance with each other, but more so, within a relational context that is in right balance as well.
let me say it like this, the greater my relationship with someone, the greater my ability to speak truth into their life. the same can be said with extending grace. the more completely i know a person, or group, or movement, the more insight and understanding i have for them. which enables me to extend grace, not pity. which empowers me to speak truth, not tell people what i think is right.
NATHANSEAN said...do you see "truth" coming from within... from self? or are you saying that to live "truth" we need to understand "truth" from within?
