Jn.1:16 – For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
Of His fullness, have you ever really considered what John is saying? It is impossible to receive fullness because the fullness of God is infinite. That is why John said and we must say “of His fullness”. There will never be a time when you can say that you have received all of God’s fullness because we can never contain the infinite fullness of God. So like John I am drinking “of His fullness” as much and as often as I can. Actually, receiving of His fullness is what heaven is all about. We will be taking Him in in all His beauty and glory throughout eternity. We will be caught up in the infinite upon infinite nature of our God. So on this side of heaven we are taking in a foretaste of His fullness, that is nothing to take lightly because it is fullness of God poured on us and in us, and through us in increasing measures as we drink of His grace. Here is how Martin Luther describes this.
“But if we do want to boast, then let us boast that we receive from the fullness of Christ, that we are enlightened by him, attain forgiveness of sin and become children of God through him. . . .And what do we really receive? “Grace on grace.” John speaks of two types of grace. Christ’s grace is the unfathomable well and chief fountain of all grace; he called this “Christ’s fullness.” And ours is that grace which we draw from Christ, which he distributes among us and which he gives for his mercy’s sake to render us pleasing and agreeable to God. Thus Saint John diverts us from any reliance on self and from any confidence in our own work and merit, and he directs us to the mercy of Christ and to the love of God. This he does not only in this text but throughout his entire Gospel and his epistles.”
The Apostle John had walked with Christ for three years in His humanity, He saw Him multiple times in His resurrected state, and saw Him at least once in His glory on the isle of Patmos. Apparently John never could get enough, each taste just made him want more. That’s why we too are drinking “of His fullness” while we wait for His soon and sudden appearing.
Thinking on filling, has me reflecting about a pie chart, that round drawing of a circle divided and a corresponding percentage number inside each slice. Each day starts with a blank pie chart and our thoughts and actions immediately begin the filling. When I took a good inventory of what’s in “my filling”, I’ll just say there was a quality control problem. To much imitation ingredients, not enough….. It simply came down to replacing myself with the most qualified…ever. The results have been outstanding.