The famous eighteenth-century evangelist, John Wesley, travelled 250,000 miles on horseback, preaching, mostly outdoors, in all weathers. So great was God’s power in his ministry that many thousands turned to Jesus.
But Wesley’s earlier years might not be so familiar. Rigorously, he’d attempted to earn salvation through his best efforts at living a righteous life. On 24 May, 1738, however, his “heart was strangely warmed”, and for the first time ever he understood the extent of his sinfulness, and how God’s grace, and His grace alone, could save him.
Wesley’s 40,000 subsequent sermons resounded with the theme of God’s grace. We were spiritually “dead” in our transgression (Ephesians 2:1), deserving of God’s wrath, while we gratified “the cravings of our flesh” (v. 3). “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ” (vv. 4–5), crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness. This is the wonderful gospel: “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” ( v. 8). Nothing we do can earn eternal life (v. 9).
Wesley was later described as “the best-loved man in England”. People didn’t just hear about God’s grace: they encountered it through him. We too can convey God’s amazing love, kindness and unmerited forgiveness (vv. 6–7) through how we serve and relate to others (v. 10).
By Anne Le Tissier
REFLECT & PRAY
In what ways might you still try to earn God’s favour through your own efforts to be righteous? How could you seek to convey God’s grace to someone today?
Loving God, thank You for Your immeasurable, abounding, overflowing gift of life in Jesus, who clothes me in His righteousness.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In Ephesians, we learn that it’s because of the grace of God that we’ve been saved (kept from eternal separation from God), through our faith (wholehearted trust) in His Son (2:5, 8). What is grace? Grace is an undeserved, freely given “gift” (v. 8). It isn’t earned through anything we do. It’s not by our good works or kind actions (v. 9; Romans 11:5–6). Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty we deserved because of our sins (wrongdoings) and made a way for us to be with Him for eternity ( John 3:16–18). Because of His sacrifice, we have “peace with God” (Romans 5:1). In Psalms we find a wonderful description of God’s grace: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him” (Psalm 103:10–11; see Ephesians 2:4).
Alyson Kieda
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