Many people are familiar with John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." In this verse three things are taking place: first, God gave, and is still giving; second, we believe; and third, we shall have eternal life. In these three points we can see God's dispensing. God's giving is a kind of dispensing. Suppose I have a lot of money, and I give each of you some of this money. My giving is my dispensing. I unload my money to you by the way of dispensing. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. This means that God is dispensing His Son to us. What God dispenses is not money, but His only begotten Son.
When we receive God's Son, God is dispensed into us. After putting a dollar bill in my pocket, I may lose it. However, through God's dispensing I have a living person in my spirit. Because I have received this person, I can never throw Him away, and I cannot even chase Him away. What I have is not just a piece of paper or a piece of sugar, but the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. This is why I am so happy and so strong.
Quite often some dear saints have written letters to comfort me. They have encouraged me not to care for all the troubles. But these troubles have never bothered me. I am always happy. My wife can testify that every night I sleep well. I also eat well. The secret to my happiness is that I have received, and am still receiving, the marvelous, unlimited, unsearchable, and untraceably rich Christ. I have received what God has dispensed to mankind. Every day I receive more of Him. I have a living, rich, happy, and joyful One within me. That is why I am a happy, living, active, and aggressive person. When He laughs, I laugh also. I am one with Him.
Not only do we have John 3:16; we also have another wonderful verse, John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us..full of grace and reality." The incarnation of God is just the coming of God to us. For God to be incarnated means that God came to us. When Jesus came as God, He did not come empty-handed. He came as God full of grace and reality. Verse 16 speaks of His fullness: "Of His fullness we all received, and grace upon grace." Grace and reality are just God's fullness. We all have received of God's fullness, which is composed of God's grace and reality. Of this fullness we all have received, and grace upon grace. There is no ending to this grace. It is grace upon grace for eternity. I have been a Christian for over sixty-five years, yet this grace is still coming upon me. Every day there is grace upon grace.
When your wife gives you a long face, you should simply receive grace upon grace. She may give you a long face, but you can give her a round face. This is grace upon grace.
Incarnation is a kind of dispensing. Through incarnation God dispenses Himself to us as grace and reality. On our part, all we need to do every day is to receive the Lord Jesus. When we pray, we are receiving, and when we praise the Lord, we are receiving. Every time before I speak, I must pray. If I do not pray, my receiving will not be full, and I will not have that much to dispense to the saints.