Prevenient Grace – The Grace That Goes Before
We all need salvation, because we are all, as Wesley said, dead in sin and dead to God. If this is true, what hope do we have?
God's Pursuing Love
Some Christian traditions hold to the theory of irresistible grace. They teach that we are dead in our sins, but God, when He has determined, will awaken the ones He has elected to save, and they are powerless to resist His grace.
Wesleyans don't hold to this view. We believe in prevenient grace, which is the view that before we believed in Jesus and His salvation, while we were still dead in sin and dead to God, He was pursuing us and 'wooing' us to Himself. And we are free to resist His wooing. But still, He seeks to draw us to Himself, lovingly calling us to come and find healing and salvation in His arms.
Here's how Wesley phrased it in his sermon The Scripture Way of Salvation: "Salvation begins with what is usually termed (and very properly) preventing grace; including the first wish to please God, the first dawn of light concerning his will, and the first slight transient conviction of having sinned against him."
Evidence of God's Pursuit
So Wesley is saying that God graciously awakens us to our need for Him, before we've believed. Those first thoughts of God and convictions that we might need Him – those are a result of His prevenient grace pursuing us.
Paul seemed to teach this. Listen to his words in Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." And of course Jesus' own teaching about the shepherd going after the lost sheep also speaks to this – God pursuing His lost ones before they even know they need Him.
Responding to Divine Invitation
Perhaps you've never taken that full step in faith and become a believer in Jesus. We will speak about how to do that in the days to come. But perhaps today you need to simply think back to the way God has been pursuing you graciously all these years. Hasn't He showed Himself to you, time and again? Given you opportunities to be blessed? Touched your spirit in special moments? Caught your attention with a teaching or a worship song or a prayer?
Maybe He's reaching out to you now, even though you have been rejecting Him, He is still reaching out to you! That's grace. That's prevenient grace.
In fact Charles Wesley wrote a beautiful hymn about this called "Depth of Mercy", in which he writes: "Still you will not speak my doom; Till I turn, you still are wooing; Calling a wanderer to come home, For his own salvation suing."
If you are a committed Christian already, think back to how God pursued you, and thank Him today that He didn't give up on you! Thank Him that His grace was high and wide enough to keep coming for you until you turned and took His outstretched hand and were saved.
I love the doctrine of prevenient grace! Praise God today for the way He pursues us before we've ever even thought of Him.
