And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth...For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.- John 1:14, 16-17
It is this second point that I want to focus on. Because Christ is full of grace and truth, it is only by gazing upon Him that the depths of these two things can become realized. Furthermore, as saints, we have not just been privileged to gaze upon these attributes as a spectator, but to become intimate with them; to become one with them. A husband may gaze at the beauty of His wife and still enjoy her from a distance, but it is only through intimate communication and sex that he experiences her beauty. In the same way, it is not enough that we simply talk about Christ's grace and truth, but that we intimately experience them on a daily basis. Christ does not just want us to enjoy Him from a distance. Instead, He makes us one with Himself so that we may drink fully of the perpetual fount of divinity that eternally flows forth from the only begotten of the Father. Through His incarnation, death, resurrection, and high priestly work, Christ has opened up His fullness to God's elect. He has not kept one thing back from us. He has not kept anything hidden from us, or told us that any aspect of His fullness is off limits to us. He has given to us the fullness of divine inheritance by making us co-heirs with Christ.
The death of Christ and our union with Him has opened up to us the riches of a reality that only the eyes of faith can both taste and apprehend. In one quick swoop, God has taken us from being His enemies, who were alienated from Him and under His wrath, to being one with Himself and partaking in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
The fullness that we have received from Christ is a bottomless well of grace and truth; two things that are indispensable for the Christian life. This means that we must never seek these two things outside of Christ. Grace and Truth in their purest form are found in Christ, and we must draw from Him continually so that we might not drift into spiritual dearth and error.
What all this means is that we lack nothing. We lack no truth, and we lack not the grace we need in life's moments. If we have already received these things, then it means that it is our fault for not appropriating them. When one drifts into spiritual or doctrinal error, it is because they have not been drinking fully of the truth they have received from Christ in His Word. Doctrinal error is a result of the abandonment of an uninterrupted submission to the Word of God, a refusal to walk in the light, which eventually leads to a lack of submission to Christ Himself. In regards to grace, it means that every moment we walk into, the grace of God is there covering all we see and don't see. It means that all that I lack spiritually (which is everything) is found there in the bosom of Christ. As John laid his head against the Lord's chest while reclining at the Passover table, so we too, being one with Him, can lay our heads and rest on His grace. Though this grace is restful, it is also an empowering grace. It is a grace that enables Christ to meet any obstacle or temptation that we find in our path of sanctification. It is grace to fight; it is grace to overcome; it is grace to suffer; it is grace to die in faithfulness.
Of His fullness. it means that His provision flows deeper than our lack. It means that our weakness has been swallowed up by His strength. So what do you lack in your soul at this hour? Do you lack patience? Come drink of His fullness of grace that you have already received. Do you lack joy? Perseverance? Forgiveness? Self-discipline? God has not called you to sip from His grace as if it were a meager trickle, but to dive in, as if it were an endless ocean, so that you may be fully immersed, and that your lack may be swallowed up by His riches.