“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” -John 1:14-16

Have you ever felt the weight of something intangible on you shoulders? It is as if you are carrying something, but in reality you are not. Maybe you just learned of some bad news or got a lot of work put in front of you and now you feel this mental weight on top of you. That is how I can describe verse 16… “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” Of course, this fullness is something positive. This is not bad news you’ve received or a load of work you just got. No, this is good news… very good news.

As you meditate on this verse, be honest with yourself and ask yourself if you have felt (really felt) his fullness… Christ’s fullness. I sometimes read a passage of Scripture or a Bible verse that makes me grunt. It is so good that I feel it down deep and have to shake my head and stop to think about the tremendous weight of truth I just read. That is the result of experiencing some aspect of Christ’s fullness.

For the next few blog posts, my aim is to write about Christ’s fullness. I pray that Christ’s fullness may be weighty on you and come over you often, if not all the time. Why does something that we cannot see weigh us down, makes us stop what we are doing and affects us in such a way that brings praise to God from our hearts? John Piper in his book, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy, lets us know that this is so because:

“…The one from whose fullness I am being drenched with grace is the Word that was with God and was God, so that his fullness is the fullness of God – a divine fullness, an infinite fullness.“

The reason why this fullness affects us so much is because his fullness is God Himself coming into our daily life. Think about that for a second. The first 2 verses of John tell us that this Word was in the beginning… that this Word was with God… that this Word was God. And, we all know that this is Christ who John is talking about. So, when we receive Christ’s fullness, we are actually receiving a fullness that is divine, infinite, unsearchable, too much to comprehend, and far greater than anything else that we may experience. This fullness of Christ, because it is a divine fullness, makes you stop your ill-intentioned work, as good as that work may be, and lets you sigh with relief that you don’t have to be perfect because his fullness fills it all. His fullness makes you at ease and you can be yourself, as real as you are, knowing that your weakness and insufficiencies will be filled with Christ’s fullness. Why is Christ’s fullness powerful enough and sufficient for us? Because it is divine. Because it is God’s fullness. Yes, Christ is God’s fullness. In Christ, the whole fullness of God dwells (Colossians 2:9).

So, today, in this Christmas season, are you filled? You may have a long list of tasks you need to get done or a conflict you must resolve with someone before the New Year. But, are you filled with Christ’s fullness? Is Christ’s fullness… is this divine fullness filling you up? If you are being filled with this divine fullness, you will be able to deal with any challenge that may come your way today.

Be filled with Christ’s fullness. It is divine, infinite, and powerful… and fills all. Rest well on the fact that because you have Christ, you have God Himself. Grace upon grace.

Pray this with me:

“God, I am in awe of you because, through Christ, you fill all. Christ wrapped in human flesh and now glorified fills all. What grace I have received. Today, I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to do certain things to get a sense of accomplishment. No. Today, fill me with your divine fullness. Let me do whatever I have to do today in light of your divine fullness. Thank you that I can experience your fullness right now. Let me live filled up. I don’t need anything else. You, Christ, fill all.”