Grace Upon Grace

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” - John 1:16

            I decided to cook eggs for lunch one day. I hadn’t had much to eat that morning and my stomach was growling. It was my day off, and I was getting ready to enjoy the Yankees game. I cooked two eggs on the stove and sat down to watch the game. About five minutes later, I began to hear a crackling sound coming from the kitchen. I jumped off the couch to attend to the noise. On my way to the kitchen, I realized my mistake. I had left the burner on, and it was about to crack the glass stovetop. I reached for the handle to remove the pan when suddenly my hand was scorched by the hot handle. I dropped the pan in pain as the realization of my error danced in my head. The handle of this pan had been directly over the hot burner and I felt it.

            I quickly ran to the sink and turned the faucet on. The cold water felt good pouring over my scorched hand. The water drew the heat away from my hand, but as soon as I removed my hand from the water, the pain returned. When I placed my hand back under the faucet the pain subsided. I stood there for a few minutes and realized the pain wasn’t going to go away any time soon, so I filled a bucket with cold water. 

I sat on the couch and tried to enjoy the game with my hand immersed in the bucket. The problem was that after a few minutes the cool water warmed up to room temperature and no longer provided the relief I needed. It was only the constant flow of the cool tap water that was able to relieve my pain. The water in the bucket is limited to what was put in the bucket. The tap is different. It is connected to a vast, much deeper source of water.

            Grace is not like the water in that bucket. The water in the bucket was only good for a short period. Once the water rose to room temperature it became ineffective. I think most people live as if this were true of grace. However, grace is not like that at all. Grace is not a temporary fix. Grace is for every moment of every day. Grace, then, is like the water from the faucet. It’s fresh and new every moment and sufficient for whatever we may encounter. It is never ineffective. We often live our lives as if we have our hand in the bucket. We love to get our grace fix and then move on to something bigger and better. Grace is much more than that. Grace is like oxygen. We can’t live without it, and there is an inexhaustible supply to breathe in all day long. Grace in its nature is inexhaustible.

            We can find great confidence in the source of this grace. John told us, “from his fullness we have received,  grace upon grace.”(John 1:16) We are given grace that will never end because it comes from the God who is infinite. Jesus is full of grace. He never needs to replenish this grace because grace is who He is. The source of grace is God. This is good news for people who can’t quite cut the mustard. This is good news for people who think they have it all together. This is good news for the weary, abused, and neglected. Grace in its nature is Jesus. Tony Reinke says it well; "Grace is not currency dispensed from an impersonal, computerized ATM. Grace is deeply personal, it is glue, securing the branch of our Christian life into the trunk of Christ’s all-sufficiency."1

            Grace is not something that is given to us as we have need of it, for we are always in need of grace. John used the phrase “grace upon grace.” This means simply that God continues to pour out grace, on top of the grace He’s already given. It’s like the water from the faucet that never stops flowing. I received grace yesterday, I will receive it tomorrow, and I will continue to receive it until the day I die. A friend of mine posted on Facebook saying, “How did you experience the Grace of God today?” I replied to this question and said, “I breathed.” 

     The fact that God allowed me to breathe another day is an amazing testimony of grace. I do not deserve anything but His wrath. Yet God, who is rich in mercy, pours over Dan Sardinas grace upon grace for every moment of life. 

     Grace is not a one-time occurrence. I was born by the grace of God. I live by the grace of God. I was saved by the grace of God. I will die by the grace of God. This never ends because I receive this from His fullness. Jesus never runs out of grace. 

This is grace upon grace.