Are you one who was born, conceived not by choice? Meaning, you were not planned? I was. My parents were young, they were dating and they were in a moment of passion not for the sake of having a child, but for other reasons. Have you ever thought about how many times you acted in a way that could create a child, but you didn’t and you are thankful for it, for you were not ready? And for those who did get pregnant in an unplanned way, can I share something the Lord has taught me about this? Did you know God chooses us to be born, not our mom, not our dad? It was God’s will for you to be born. John says it this way, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” You were born because of the will of God!

I spent a lot of years feeling like I was not wanted because I was not planned, I was created out of passion. But when the Lord showed me, many people have moments of passion but they do not produce a child, I realized, I was born because it was God’s will not man’s. Talk about liberating. When you know God created you, because He wanted you, it is a game changer. My parents love me, provided for me, protected me, all the stuff, but God was the one who chose me to be born, it was His will that I was born and the same is true of you. It is God’s will that you were born, no matter what man was thinking or wanting at the time. God wanted you born, so you were born.

I tell you this, because John goes on to say, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” We have talked a lot about grace, but grace cannot be separated from truth in order for it to truly be grace. The truth is offensive to people when it is not spoken with grace, but grace is powerless to people when it is not coupled with truth. Only the truth can set us free and freedom is what we need, what we want, but to receive truth, it is going to have to come with grace and when it does freedom is going to ring out in a way that gathers people together again. Grace and truth are the tracks the glory train of God is running on, I can hear the whistle blowing even now.