John 1:16 – And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.

I love the word “fullness.” When speaking of God and of His grace, this word takes on a “fuller” meaning when talking about God’s grace. Of course, God is infinite, and when speaking of His fullness we are speaking of an unlimited supply. John said that we have all received of His fullness. We are drinking of His cup of infinite grace. This cup exists in a constant state of overflow and this has become my portion in this new life. Once we begin to taste of this amazing grace of God we become aware of the unlimited supply that calls out to us. We have to have more. We are on a quest to discover this “grace upon grace.” Jonathan Edwards spoke often of this awakened spiritual appetite. Listen to his words:

“Spiritual good is of a satisfying nature; and for that very reason, the soul that tastes, and knows its nature, will thirst after it, and a fullness of it, that it may be satisfied. And the more he experiences, and the more he knows this excellent, unparalleled, exquisite, and satisfying sweetness, the more earnestly will he hunger and thirst for more, till he comes to perfection. And therefore this is the nature of spiritual affections, that the greater they be, the greater the appetite and longing is, after grace and holiness.”

I remember becoming keenly aware of this strange phenomenon of being fatigued but more thirsty than ever after revival first touched our church back in 1994. We were suddenly overwhelmed by the glory of the Lord that was unmistakeable and undeniably among us. I can remember being satisfied with Christ in a similar way at my conversion experience many years before that outpouring. The thing that struck me and many others in our church as so unusual was the increased hunger and thirst for God that we all experienced yet at the same we were more thirsty than ever before. It’s amazing to me that Jonathan Edwards and his church experienced that same effect on their lives over 250 years ago. Their remote church in western Massachusetts was caught up in daily meetings, often twice a day, for many years. Why were they going to church so much? The Lord was meeting them in their corporate gatherings and the whole town was thirsty for more. I think all of us need another drink of this fullness, this satisfied but not satisfied life is better than anything this world can offer.