The Transformative Power of Grace

The transformative power of grace will be one of the divine wonders that we will celebrate forever when eternity is our final home.

The Bible is not a collection of stories of human heroes. No, the Bible is the story of a hero Redeemer who transforms weak and ordinary people by His powerful grace. Think with me of the characters who walk across the pages of Scripture:

• Moses wasn’t a natural-born leader. He begged God to send someone else to Egypt, yet by transforming grace, there was no prophet in all of Israel like him.
• Joshua was scared to death of what God was calling him to do, but by divine power, he led the Israelites into the Promised Land.
• Gideon was convinced God had the wrong address, that he didn’t really mean to call Gideon to lead the Israelite army against the Midianites, but when Gideon did it, he witnessed the awesome power of the God who had called him.
• Samson forsook his calling for the love of a deceitful woman, but he brought down the temple of Dagon by the power of God.
• David was the least likely son of Jesse to rise to the throne of Israel, but God’s grace gave him a heart of courage.
• Elijah, when left to himself in a moment of discouragement, asked God to take his life, but he did great things by God’s power.
• Peter was so fearful that he denied that he knew Jesus, but he became the man who stood before the Sanhedrin and essentially said, “You can threaten to kill me, but I will not stop preaching the gospel” (see Acts 4:19-20).
• Paul was the least likely of the apostles. He had murderous hatred for the follow­ers of Jesus, yet by grace he became the most eloquent spokesman of the gospel.

The Bible does not celebrate the steely spirit of a bunch of heroic characters. No, the Bible puts before us people who were just like you and me. They were weak and fearful. They were easily deceived and disloyal. They doubted God as much as they trusted Him. They sometimes followed God’s way and at other times demanded their own way. These were not natural-born heroes. These were not individuals to be celebrated. Yet, they all accomplished great things, things that were crucial for the advancement of God’s purpose. What made the difference? You can answer the ques­tion with one word: grace. Grace transformed their hearts, giving them the desire, power, and wisdom to do what they would not have been able to do on their own. Grace means that when God calls you, he goes with you, supplying what you need for the task at hand. They weren’t naturals; no, they were transformed!

P.D.T.