“For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another.” —John 1:16
Fullness is such a great word. It brings to mind thoughts of satisfaction, completion, entirety, and contentment. When we read the words “from his fullness” it speaks to all that is found within Jesus.
All that is within Jesus … all the blessings of joy, delight, and satisfaction; all the gifts and endowments of the Holy Spirit; all the favor of God toward us as sinners because of Christ. All this we receive. Just as one wave gets to the seashore and another follows suit, then another and another, in like manner, we receive never-ending waves of God’s unmerited favor. His love, giving, joy, and satisfaction contrasts with human love, giving, joy, and satisfaction in both nature and degree—while human light appears as a flicker, God’s light shines forth as the brightness of the sun.
Throughout the Bible we find verses that speak to God’s fullness and His desire to fill us:
“Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost! Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food!” —Isaiah 55:1–2
“On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, “From within him will flow rivers of living water.”’” —John 7:37–38
“I am the LORD, your God, the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!” —Psalm 81:10
“Since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened so that you can know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and gave him to the church as head over all things. Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” —Ephesians 1:18–23
Become More
“There is a fullness of blessings of every sort and shape; a fullness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve, and of grace to perfect. There is a fullness at all times; a fullness of comfort in affliction; a fullness of guidance in prosperity. A fullness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love; a fullness which it were impossible to survey, much less to explore … Oh, what a fullness must this be of which all receive! Fullness, indeed, must there be when the stream is always flowing, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich, as full as ever. Come, believer, and get all thy need supplied; ask largely, and thou shalt receive largely, for this ‘fullness’ is inexhaustible, and is treasured up where all the needy may reach it, even in Jesus, Immanuel—God with us.” —Charles H. Spurgeon
In what ways are you currently experiencing the fullness of God’s gracious gifts?
Further Reflections
“Live up to thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeakable joy.” —Charles H. Spurgeon
“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.” —Ephesians 1:3