Faith Venture

Some believe that God’s grace hits you from “out of the blue” one and done. Certainly there are examples of people who have been unexpectedly overwhelmed by God’s grace. I just shared the song “Amazing Grace” at a gathering—a story of one such encounter.

Those of us in the tradition of John Wesley recognize that grace is actually an integral part of our spiritual journey. 

I lifted this thought from a fitness newsletter by Arnold Schwarzenegger. “Fitness is not a 30-day challenge or even 90 days. Fitness is a lifelong commitment.” 

This applies not only to our physical life, but also it applies to our spiritual journey. I think this fits with John Wesley’s ideas—we can call it Prevenient grace where God is already at work on us before we become aware, Justifying grace hits us (sometimes hard) when we cross from unbelief to belief, and Sanctifying grace nurtures our spiritual growth throughout our lives.

Spiritual life is not one-and-done. Spiritual life becomes a journey of both personal growth and service. Paul’s letter of spiritual development (Romans) does not end with belief. You must not stop reading at chapter 11. Paul continues in what we call chapters 12-15 to describe life after belief. It is how we live our life in grace.

The old gospel song “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” includes the line “No turning back, no turning back.”

Following Jesus is a lifelong commitment.

This entry was posted on March 4, 2025 at 4:54 am and is filed under Grace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.