Reminders: God's Transforming Grace
by Ardith Hoff
John Wesley is one of the founders of what came to be called the “Methodist” denomination. People erroneously thought Wesley’s followers were using a “method” to gain salvation rather than making a commitment to simply accept salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross. Wesley actually believed that it is not only essential for us to accept Jesus as our savior, but also that we need to grow in faith. In order to help people understand how God’s grace can work in our lives, he broke the concept down into three steps.
Wesley’s language might have been helpful at the time, but to our modern ears, the words he used are not familiar and tend to turn people off. But once understood, they make sense. Wesley called what leads to accepting salvation, “prevenient grace”. The word starts with, “pre” meaning before, as in previous to something happening. It symbolizes the first step in accepting salvation, e.g., it’s like we are willing to enter a church, but are not yet sure we want to go all the way in. God is starting to work at opening our heart and mind.
The next step Wesley called, “justifying grace”. We are starting our faith journey by confessing our sins and having them forgiven (justified). By the grace of God, we believe that Jesus died and washed away our sins. In the analogy, we are just part way inside the church.
The next step is what Wesley called “sanctifying grace”. The word “sanctifying” is not self-explanatory, but if we think of the word as it relates to the sanctuary of a church, we can imagine that we are all the way into the main part of the church. We are ready to grow in faith. Being sanctified means to be dedicated to studying God's word, being continuously in prayer, and ready to follow God’s plans. “For it is by grace are you saved through faith––and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in [your] weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9
God’s grace is sufficient! It is enough, before, during and after we accept Jesus as our savior. We are transformed by God’s grace.