Daily Manna · Day 281 · October 8
Grace Upon Grace
“And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
You may have started praying politely. You no longer pray about the real thing, because you have brought it to God so many times that it feels like wearing out your welcome. So you bring Him the tidy version instead and keep the rest to yourself.
The man who wrote today's verse was John, and he wrote it as an old man, many years after he walked with Jesus. Christians have long believed he outlived all the other apostles. He is trying to put into words what it was like to stand close to Jesus. A few lines earlier he says, "we beheld his glory," and then he adds: "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace."
"Grace for grace" is an unusual phrase, and it becomes a gift once you see what it means. The little word "for" here means "in place of," one thing given where another was. So it is grace replacing grace, with new grace arriving as the last is used up. Think of waves on a beach: one wave comes in just as the last one draws back, so the sand never dries out. And the word before it is "fulness." That means more than a big supply. A big supply runs low as you use it, but fulness does not get smaller by being poured out. That is what makes it fulness and not just a lot.
So read the verse again: "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." All of us have received from Him. And nowhere in that sentence is there anyone counting how many times you have come back. You can bring Him the real thing again today, and there will be grace waiting for it.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 281 is Where Wast Thou (Job 38:4).