Transformational Love of God: Christian Perfection

by Steve | Aug 18, 2025 | Juloy-August 2025

Transformational Love of God: Christian Perfection

By Wendi. J. Deichmann

For centuries Methodists have enthusiastically sung the hymn, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” the lyrics of which poetically articulate the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection. Composed by Charles Wesley in 1847, this hymn doubles as a teaching primer for a doctrine that is often neglected or misunderstood, even by fervent Methodists. It is simple enough to understand the concept underlying the title. Love divine, God’s love, surpasses all other loves. After all, to quote well-known Bible verses, “God is love” (1 John 4:8); “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16); and “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” as Jesus himself has done for us (John 15:13).

Believers can readily agree, then, based upon Scriptural revelation, that God’s “divine love” excels in comparison with all other loves. It is what we sing in the rest of the hymn that takes us further down the path toward the sometimes perplexing Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection. Phrases like: “fix in us thy humble dwelling” (verse 1), “take away our bent to sinning” (verse 2), and “finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be” beckon us to wrap our hearts, minds, and voices around the full meaning of Christian perfection. The purpose of this article is to explore and explain this central biblical doctrine as it was understood and taught by both John and Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism.

For John Wesley, the doctrine of Christian perfection was so important that he believed its propagation was the main reason the Holy Spirit had raised up the people called Methodists. He came to this conclusion through his study of Scripture, when he compared what was written in the Bible about the extent of God’s love and the Holy Spirit’s work within believers, with the less than holy attitudes and behaviors exhibited by many “so-called Christians” of his day. Wesley clarified in great detail his conclusions concerning this doctrine in several widely read publications still available today. These included a lengthy treatise entitled “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” “Thoughts on Christian Perfection,” and a sermon entitled, “Christian Perfection.”

In these documents Wesley grappled with promises he found in scripture that were the basis not only for his belief in God’s work of grace in sanctification, but also in entire sanctification, an expression he used interchangeably with Christian perfection. These Biblical promises included for example, “He shall redeem Israel from all his sins” (Psalm 103:8) and “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Likewise, Wesley pondered seriously the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Deliver us from evil” and Jesus’ prayer for his followers (John 17:20-23): “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” Similarly in Ephesians 3:16-19, “that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge; that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God.” Finally, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit, soul, and body, may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Holy Scripture, moreover, Wesley encountered explicit commands about perfection from Jesus himself: “Be ye perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37). If the heart is full of the love of God as commanded, he concluded, there is no room for sin to reside there. Thus, for Wesley there was no denying that entire sanctification is possible in this life. Based upon his reading of Scripture, it should be expected. In fact, it would be unconscionable to truncate the desired, sanctifying work of God in the believer short of Christian perfection.

When Wesley’s detractors demanded proof in the form of a living example of Christian perfection, he replied that to identify one or more would be imprudent and unfair as it would only “set a mark for all to shoot at.” Furthermore, it would do no good, he argued, mirroring the words of Jesus in Luke 16:31: “’For if they hear not Moses and the Prophets,’ Christ and his Apostles, ‘neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.’”

Wesley began both his treatise and his sermon on perfection by describing what it is not, namely, those very things that many assume that it is. In “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” he characterized those who are on the path of perfection, as not being perfect in knowledge. Nor are they free from ignorance, mistakes, infirmities, temptations, irregularities, ungracefulness of speech, or other “defects” in this life.

If Christian perfection is not all these things, what exactly, according to John Wesley, is it? Again, drawing directly from Scripture, he stated simply that it is “The loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This implies, that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in the soul; and that all the thoughts, words, and actions, are governed by pure love.”

But how is this kind of perfection possible in mere humans who are chronically plagued by ignorance, error, and weakness? Only by the perfecting grace of God, Wesley was quick to state. He explained that those characterized by Christian perfection not only need Christ and his forgiveness; but they are keenly aware of their constant need for Christ and his merits. In fact, in Wesley’s thinking Christian perfection is intimately dependent upon one’s relationship with Christ, who “does not give life to the soul separate from, but in and with, himself.” Again, drawing directly from Scripture, Wesley wrote that the words of Jesus are “equally true of all . . . in whatsoever state of grace they are: ‘As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. Without (or separate from) me ye can do nothing.’” (John 15:5)

Wesley reminded the reader that it is only through God’s grace that any progress can be made on the path of salvation. In “every state,” Wesley wrote, the believer needs Christ (1) for the gift of grace that Christ gives freely to us, (2) because of the debt of gratitude we always owe to him, (3) because we receive this grace “not only from Christ, but in him,” (4) because we are dependent daily upon his intercession on our behalf,” and (5) even the best of Christians need Christ to atone for our shortcomings and our mistakes in judgment and practice. Even if no wrong was intended, these are deviations from God’s perfect law.

Christian perfection is not dependent upon our own righteousness, then, and it is never our possession. Rather, like the air we breathe and the light by which we see and move, Christian perfection is a gift of God’s unsurpassable love received daily from Christ through his grace, effected through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This brief foray into John Wesley’s teachings about the doctrine of Christian perfection provides a context for understanding the lyrics in the Charles Wesley hymn referenced earlier. It is exactly because of the atoning and sanctifying nature of God’s “all loves excelling” love that the faithful believer moves from praising love divine in the first stanza, to a prayer for finishing then “thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be” in the last stanza.

Magnificent and popular as is this Charles Wesley hymn, even more significant is the doctrine of Christian perfection it expresses. Not only biblical, this particular core doctrine of Wesleyanism is also eminently worshipful, hopeful and practical. It puts the spotlight on the unceasing love of God that is both for us and in us. It teaches about the limitless power of a love strong enough not only to human forgive sin, but also to change believers’ lives, to cultivate holy relationships, and to propel disciples into the world as witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ. In other words, when the pure love of God toward us also resides in us, we are already being transformed in our capacity to love others with the same purity of transformational love with which God loves us.

John Wesley believed this doctrine was a gift of God given especially to Methodists in the 18th century to undergird their God-given, audacious mission “to spread scriptural holiness” across the land. But Christian perfection is not solely the preserve of the Methodists. Rather, it is a biblical doctrine that depicts a divine love so powerful and pure that it readily transcends denominational, theological, cultural, and a host of other human-made distinctions and barriers.

Ironically, our own time is characterized by intense, theological squabbling and division over the meaning of holiness. Can it be that the biblical doctrine of Christian perfection, in concert with the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst, has the capacity to help us rediscover the pure love of God for us and in us, the practice of sincere Christian unity beyond denominational lines, and a wonderful season of revival within the body of Christ?

Wendy J. Deichmann is President Emerita and Professor of History and Theology at United Theological Seminary.   An ordained elder of The United Methodist Church, Dr. Diechman is Director of the Center for the Evangelical United Brethren Heritage; Academic Dean (2005-2008).

Grace-fueled Discipleship

by Steve | Aug 18, 2025 | Juloy-August 2025

Grace-fueled Discipleship

By Tammie Grimm

Did you know John Wesley never used the word “disciple” to refer to  persons who seek to follow Jesus? It’s true. Yes, he did use the word “disciple,” however, it was only in reference to the persons who were companions of Jesus during his earthly ministry and then carried on after Pentecost to help build and grow the church. He simply never used the term “disciple” in reference to himself or any of the “people called Methodist “ of his day. Rather, he referred to his contemporaries who were dedicated followers of Christ as either “Methodist” or “Christian.” When pressed to describe what it meant to be a “Methodist” or a “Christian” Wesley turned to scripture and created the turn of phrase by mashing up Philippians 2:5 with I John 2:6 to describe a Christian (or a Methodist) as one who has the mind that was in Christ so that they walk in the way Christ also walked (emphasis added). It’s a definition that still tracks today having resonance with contemporary descriptions of a disciple as one who is a follower of Jesus or is a friend to or companion with Jesus.

What is so great about Wesley’s description of a disciple (beyond the realization that he was mashing up verses long before DJ’s thought they were cool by doing it to recording artists) is that his provides nuance, reminding us that a Christian disciple is about engaging in doing things just like Jesus did and that their interior lives (thoughts, feelings, and impulses) were also consistent with Jesus. Actually, Wesley gives priority to Christlike desires and motivations (thinking and being like Jesus) that orders outward behavior. This description of a Christian disciple leaves room for mutual reinforcement between the two, that in doing things like Jesus we can become more like him in character and disposition as well.

Similarly, while Wesley didn’t use the term “spiritual disciplines” or “Christian practices” he didn’t neglect teaching or preaching about them. Instead, he used a term popular in his day, “means of grace,” to describe those everyday actions that persons participate in out of the desire that participation in them will help them grow in faith and Christlike character. And just as Wesley’s description of a disciple spans the ages, so too, does “means of grace” transcend time. By ascribing the means — whether they be signs, words, actions, or even practices, disciplines, and experiences — to be “of grace,” that is belonging to God, we can understand God often and regularly uses particular activities such as prayer, worshipping together, volunteering at the homeless shelter, etc. to help us grow and mature in Christian faith. Furthermore, we are offered the opportunity to realize that God could use just about any event or circumstance in our lives to convey his love that we might grow in Christlike character if we are so attuned.

Typically, we may call certain things we do as Christians, whether it be prayer, Bible study, worshipping and taking communion with others, volunteering at the local food bank or supporting a Christian missionary a spiritual disciplines or Christian practice. And by that, we mean that we do these things in order that we might grow closer to God. More often than not, our motivations might are not completely pure. We might engage in these actions in order to please others or for any range of selfish reasons. Thankfully, God is patient and wise and does not object to using our mixed motivations for his good! Through our continued and regular participation over extended periods of time, we can begin to understand that we’ve come to love God in newer and deeper ways. These actions become life-giving in ways that we may not have expected. It might be a challenge for many of us to articulate what these actions do within us. Richard Foster offers help when he says that the spiritual disciplines bring us joy as they liberate us from fear and self-absorption.

In considering Wesley’s chosen words and phrases, we discover that our participation in the spiritual disciplines, like our faithful discipleship, is — at some level — divinely inspired. It must be if we are to grow in Christlike character. Our human frailties don’t have staying power on their own. If we are to grow in Christlike character, we need to respond to God’s grace already present in our lives and be responsible with it through loving deed, word and action. Our faithful discipleship depends upon it.

Tammie Grimm is Associate Professor at Wesley Seminary in Marion, Indiana.

The Grace that Awakens

by Steve | Aug 18, 2025 | Juloy-August 2025

The Grace that Awakens

By Bill Ury

A beloved mentor of mine would shake up a room when he would talk about the free grace of God and the sinner’s response by saying, “God has a problem!” He would go on to discuss the fact that Jesus would not misuse his love to bribe us or force us to recognize or accept him. How then could we come to any spiritual perception without losing our freedom? Salvation is always pure gift and yet he will not save us without ourselves. How is this paradox dealt with to preserve both God’s sovereignty and a real human responsiveness? The answer begins with prevenient grace.

It changes everything when grace is viewed as the life of God. Grace is much more than an attitude or disposition. Salvation is only possible through the life-giving power of the God of grace. Grace originates in the heart of the Holy One who is Love. This powerful self-giving permeates all of our human existence, even when we have refused it. Our gracious God never forces any one to receive him. But he always extends life to our death, light to our darkness.

Our Wesleyan tradition has agreed with the interpretation of sin as originating in Adam and which has affected all of humanity (Romans 5:12). The withering, yet indisputable, conclusion is that we are deprived of the presence of God and totally depraved. This devastating rejection of God touches every area of our lives — body, spirit, will, and mind. John Wesley described our fallen nature as the loss of our Breath, the Spirit. Without the Breath of God, we are devoid of Life. Yet, he comes to dry bones and offers revivifying power. (Wesley, “The Circumcision of the Heart”). Human nature alone, without grace, is a dead nature. Grace issues from the heart of God to offer himself to our self-imposed destruction. He enters every place of our blindness with light. The Wesleys used the phrase, “Wake up, sleeper” to indicate the indefatigable love of God for us in our darkened and deadly state (Ephesians 5:14).

Paul calls human nature apart from saving grace the “natural man” (I Corinthians  2:14). Our nature apart from the Spirit’s presence and work in our hearts is spiritually lifeless. The normal emphasis on John 3:16 often misses what must come before we believe, the eternal love of God and the sending of the Son decided before the foundation of the world. This means that no one is totally “natural.” In our benighted state we are never left abandoned by God, without the choice to either receive him or reject him. Wesley compared us to an unborn child, surrounded by life yet without perception of it (Wesley’s sermon, “The Great Privilege of those that are Born of God”).

So, grace is more than merely divine concern. It is the dynamic life-giving essence of our Creator and Redeemer who will not let us go. The Church has struggled to explain how the grace of God intercepts lifeless hearts without stacking the deck. Our Savior will not save us against our will. So how does he enable spiritually blind and dead persons a real offer of conviction, confession, and new birth?  All of us need to be awakened, given spiritual sight in order to be able to respond to the self-offering of God. This spiritual capacity initiated and enabled by the Holy Spirit brings enough light to an unredeemed person so that any response to grace is truly free (see Herbert McGonigle’s volume, Sufficient Saving Grace, 2001).

Some have said that our wills are bound and our fallenness so severe that only sovereign irresistible grace is the solution. In this view, our sinfulness is entrenched to such a level that only supernatural determination and selection of a few for salvation makes sense. The intensity of total depravity requires that salvation only works one way. They advocate “monergism” (monos ‘one’ + ergon ‘works’) a term to assure that God alone saves without sinful human involvement. On reflection, this view is not totally wrong. For every cell, breath, or thought originates and is sustained by the providential goodness of God. No life, despite its spiritual destruction, is totally divorced from grace. Unless he gives himself, life is impossible.

The Wesleyan tradition rejects the perspective that God alone works in salvation because it is impersonal. As creatures made in the image of God who are enabled to respond as persons before the Fall, we assert that true freedom is central to what it means to be a person. While never delimiting the freedom of God to graciously offer himself we recognize at every point God coming to each person in self-giving love.

In The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis once reflected that if we were truly totally depraved, we would not know it. God is so good to us that even though we have all gone into a far country he gifts us with the possibility of coming to ourselves. Everything he ever offers enables personal relationship. The concept of his undeserved engagement with our fallen nature has been called, “synergism” (sun ‘together’ + ergon ‘works’).  We never receive his good grace as inert substances, like rocks. He desires to recreate us into the full image in which we were made. What we de-personalized he can re-personalize. The absolute bondage of sin is countered by the personal love of God who bestows a liberating grace so that we might regain our “native freedom” (Wesley, “One Thing Needful”).

That is why the Bible is full of pictures of grace impacting our stony hearts: light in our darkness, water pouring over our dust, life for our death.  No matter how deep our pit, our Savior has gone deeper (Psalms 139:1-12). That astounding fact is brilliantly revealed in the term, “prevenient” (pre ‘before’ + venire ‘come’) grace. Our salvation from beginning to end is sustained by God. At no point do we ever command or earn his life in us. Out of his overwhelming love he gives grace to enable the first inkling of response.

At this point many have said “See, grace is irresistible!” Our response is yes. He does offer grace to us whether we know it or not. But salvation is impossible without a personal reception of saving grace. This “coming-before” grace initiates the possibility of relationship without ever coercing our response. Eternal love, God’s essential nature, pours over our lives in countless ways. He gives, calls, invites, and provides without manipulating one false response.

So how does the Scripture reveal to us this grace which precedes?

Recognition of God in creation – Even though our corrupt lives threaten to keep the barriers up in defiance to our Maker, we are inextricably surrounded by the majesty of Creation. The universe reveals the grandeur of his character traits: beauty, order and goodness (Psalms 145:9; 19:1, Romans 1:19-20, James 1:17). The cosmos is a brilliant portrayal of objective grace. All of us are under the selfless avalanche of loving invitation to know the One who made the stars and formed us for himself.

Conscience – The Creator who spoke the universe into being did so in order that we might have conversation with him. From the glory of the galaxies, God’s gracious self-revelation comes to each of us in the form of our conscience. Each of us has an inner moral capacity when something wrong occurs (Matthew 7:11, Romans 2:15-16). The most anarchic and violent gangs have strict codes for loyalty. He has made us with an indelible sense of the wrongness of lying, abuse, and disrespect. To be immoral is not to be amoral. We are not so depraved that everything goes. Those standards in our conscience point to the Righteous One who made us for righteousness.

Freedom of the Will – To be a person entails freedom. I heard a theologian interviewed who irritably asked why Wesleyans were, as he put it, so in love with freedom. I retorted out loud, because we are created as persons. Without freedom of the will, we are not whole. Sin has shackled our wills to sin. God’s undergirding grace ensures freedom of responsiveness to him. A measure of self-determination is his continued gift (Ezekiel 18:20). Thus, we are given the capacity to hear and respond to him. Scripture itself is proof that God is speaking and empowers us to be able to listen, understand and apply his truth. The Gospel of grace is always personally and restoratively freeing.

Conviction and Believing – Conviction of sin without the preceding grace of the Word who whispers his holiness and mercy does not originate in us. So, the Knower of our hearts has carefully retained a sense of our need for him. Only a fool comes to an insurmountable crisis and refuses to call out to God. Every Christian can testify to a time when they were dead in sin and a glimmer of hope came into their purview. It was a real choice to trust Christ. The precursory working of grace makes turning to and depending on Jesus possible (Romans 2:4, Acts 5:31, Ephesians 2:8-9, 2 Timothy 2:25-26). At every point of our lives his grace-life enables, prepares, strengthens, and bears us.

The Drawing of the Trinity’s Self-Giving – Wesleyanism affirms both the sovereign freedom of God’s self-bestowing grace and the enabled and unforced response of persons made in the image of God. Each person of the Trinity is involved in this marvelous dynamic of relational restoration. The Father is “drawing all humanity” to himself (John 6:44, 65). The Son is calling and drawing to himself all who would be saved (John 10:3, 12:32, 15:5). The Spirit enables every aspect of grace before salvation (John 16:8-9).

The Light of God – John describes this prevenient grace in Jesus as “the true light that gives light to everyone” (John 1:9). John Wesley spoke of “the first dawning of grace in the soul” (Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation”). The Love in God seeks to awaken all by the revealed light needed to make possible the recognition that they are made for Another. But that illumination is only the precursor to meeting and receiving the One who is the Light of the World (John 8:12, 9:5). This light luminates both radical sinner and blind, self-righteously secure religionist who is “asleep in darkness” as a “horrid light” and “awful providence” which shakes one out of sleep. This grace “touches the heart” enabling the “the eyes of understanding to be opened” (“The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption).

The apostles affirmed that God “has not left himself without a witness” (Acts 14:17). He is always there before we are. Every conversation, act of ministry or service in Christ’s name is established, in what Dr. Dennis Kinlaw called, “the law of the second witness” (Preaching in the Spirit). Prevenient grace assures us that the Holy Spirit is working in every person’s heart at all times. What joyful freedom it brings to know that the God who is Love precedes, pervades, enables, draws, awakens, convicts, and saves each of us. He asks us to join his prevenient self-bestowal in offering witness to his personalizing grace in every person’s life.

Finally, the dynamic of grace as God’s self-giving to us means that he has a goal. Prevenient grace has a trajectory which comprises the way of salvation. (Wesley, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest.” Dr. Ken Collins succinctly articulates the distinctiveness of the Wesleyan doctrine of prevenient grace in “Introduction to a Wesleyan Theological Orientation” in Wesley One Volume Commentary).

In the hymn “And Can It Be, That I Should Gain,” Charles Wesley eloquently described this telos or goal-orientation of the Holy One. In the description of a grace which invades our prison-like estate he wrote, “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night” which is met with grace-filled enabling glory, “Thine eye diffused a quickening ray” and the resultant awakening, “I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.” But note, this must be followed with “I rose, went forth and followed Thee.” Not only alive but clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

There is in the heart of God the unrelenting desire for each of us to be free of the bondage of sin. But prevenient grace points to much more. He wants us to become his children who bear a strong family likeness to him. Grace is not a transaction or a substance. It is the life of the Holy One which is not satisfied until the one who wholly trusts him is made like him in holiness of heart and life.

Bill Ury was raised in Taiwan, the son of United Methodist missionaries. He taught Systematic and Historical Theology at Wesley Biblical Seminary for 24 years. Dr. Ury and his wife, the Rev. Diane Ury, are the National Ambassadors of Holiness for the Salvation Army. Dr. Ury’s books include: Trinitarian Personhood, The Bearer: Forgiveness from the Heart, Christology as Theology, and has co-written with Diane, Conversations on Holiness.   

Growth in Grace

by Steve | Aug 18, 2025 | Juloy-August 2025

Growth in Grace

By Stephen Rankin

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

In our home, affixed to the wall of the entryway from our garage into the kitchen, hangs an oversized yardstick that our son-in-law made for us to measure the heights of all our grandchildren as they grow. As you might imagine, it is full of marks that climb ever higher and higher on the numbered hash marks. Joni, my spouse and family matriarch, marches each grandchild to that board every year as close to her or his birthday as possible. Each grandchild is as excited as we are to see how much she or he has grown. One grandson, now five inches taller than my smallish 5’9”, towers over me. Those of you who do something similar know the feeling. The mystery of human growth is amazing.

Measuring biological growth is a straightforward, understandable process. Gauging spiritual growth? Not so much. Most Christians recognize the need for growth. Most of us have some general, but probably too vague a notion that God expects us to grow. We know that being a mature Christian is obviously better than being an immature one, but do we have any way of making an honest and accurate assessment so that we can tell the difference? Candidly, I think the answers to these questions for most believers is no. We need to remedy this situation.

The author of the book of Hebrews hits this point hard. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food … but solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us go on toward perfection…” (Hebrews 5:12-6:1a, NRSV).

According to Albert Outler’s introductory note in the new edition of The Works of John Wesley, Mr. Wesley preached on Hebrews 6:1, “Let us go on to perfection,” more than fifty times in his long ministry. We’ll return to the idea of “going on” in relation to growth in a moment, but, first, let’s deal with that most intimidating word, “perfection.”

Most people, including many in the Wesleyan tradition, struggle with perfection because it seems to point to a flawlessness that no human can reach. True, and Hebrews isn’t asking us to hit this mark. Similarly, perfection smacks of perfectionism. Biblical perfection in Christianity is not the perfection we are called to seek. What, then, is it?

It’s a call to grow into the fullness of adult, mature discipleship. In other words, to aim at, yes, Christlikeness; that is, to have the mind of Christ and to walk as Christ walked. The Bible doesn’t mess around. It doesn’t soften this call. It is only possible by God’s grace, and God makes this very grace available to us all.

As many scholars of Wesley have pointed out, going on to perfection (or entire sanctification, or being made perfect in love, or several other expressions Wesley used) is the chief reason for the existence of Methodism. It’s especially important for us in the Wesleyan tradition to hold fast to this vision.

What is Grace and How Does It Work?

People in the Wesleyan tradition have learned from numerous sources about prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace. We know the words and some perhaps have some basic understanding as to how these different expressions of grace work. If you already know what I’m talking about, then consider this little exposition a refresher. If you don’t know, then I hope it inspires you. Either way, may it provoke you to action.

John Wesley, in his sermon, “The Witness of Our Own Spirit,” helps us see the needed perspective for growing in grace:

“‘By the grace of God’ is sometimes to be understood that free love, that unmerited mercy, by which I, a sinner, through the merits of Christ am now reconciled to God. But in this place it rather means that power of God the Holy Ghost which ‘worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.’ As soon as ever the grace of God (in the former sense, his pardoning love) is manifested to our soul, the grace of God (in the latter sense, the power of his Spirit) takes place therein. And now we can perform, through God, what to [humanity] was impossible.”

Most Christians have a decent grasp on the first part of this description. We know that grace means God’s gift, God’s unmerited favor in forgiving and adopting us as his children through faith in Christ. But awareness of the second part — the part that Mr. Wesley emphasizes — pales by comparison.

To be sure, the Bible is consistently clear regarding God’s unmerited favor, and we thank God for it. What if, however, we also grasped further that God’s grace is God’s action for our full salvation, like the actions of a great coach who has a purpose in our training and a goal for our growth? Who is totally committed to our becoming, so to speak, an outstanding athlete? Who guides and corrects and insists and inspires? The coach metaphor falls short, of course, because God does more than teach and correct. He also literally provides what a coach cannot. God’s very own Spirit supplies the energy, the power, to grow us into Christlikeness. And here I think of another of Mr. Wesley’s sermons, “On Working Out Our Own Salvation,” based on Philippians 2:12-13. This text reads in part, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you…” As Wesley says in this sermon, because God works in us, we can work. But also, because God works in us, we must work, that is, engage our energies to grow and to serve.

What Does Growth Look Like?

Let’s assume that you have committed to this vision of becoming a fully-grown, spiritually mature, on-to-perfection disciple. How do you gauge whether you are actually growing?

Assuming the desire to grow, the process starts with appropriate self-awareness. I stress that word, appropriate. The kind of self-awareness we need follows Jesus’ first Beatitude in Matthew 5: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” To recognize our spiritual poverty, our tendency toward self-indulgence, therefore our need for grace, is the place to start.

Then, avail yourself of the means of grace. They are indispensable aids to growth. We can call them spiritual disciplines, as many traditions do, but recognizing them as means of grace helps us remember that God supplies the energy we need. Prayer (public and private), searching the scriptures, fasting, receiving the sacrament, meeting together in small groups for mutual edification (watching over one another in love), and serving others in Christ’s love all serve as means of God’s grace to grow us into mature Christians.

Next, develop a useful way of measuring growth. This process does not need to be overly formal. It simply needs to help you see what is actually happening in your efforts to grow. Make a list of ways that you sense the need to grow. You can modify the list as you give more thought to this work. Keep some notes for future reference. Do this work with trusted fellow travelers. You could start with any of several spiritual maturity assessments available online (do an internet search for “spiritual maturity assessment” and choose one that seems appropriate). A tool like this one gives you some food for thought.

In your assessment, while you consider attitudes, dispositions, and behaviors (in other words, character), don’t overlook the critical category of knowledge. For example, one area of serious concern has to do with discerning sound from unsound doctrine. To be sure, mere conceptual knowledge does not make one a mature Christian, but neither does ignorance! Sound doctrine leads you into deeper union with Christ. If you want to grow in grace, do not overlook serious study. Again, if you search online, you can find tools for helping you assess doctrinal and scriptural knowledge. Remember, it’s just a way to get started, it’s not the final judgment.

Christian character flows from the heart and the heart is made up of thoughts, feelings (desires, affections) and actions. So, do the same inventory with character qualities. Consider how, for example, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 provides a template. Start with a study of each of the virtues listed there. Again, it’s best to do this work with a group committed to the same goal. Think about situations where you feel vulnerable or afraid or frustrated or angry or hurt. Conversely, where might you be a little too comfortable, too self-assured? Think of relationships in which you need to exhibit Christlikeness in your demeanor.

Finally, consider whether or not you regularly give away your time and love to others in service. In what ways do you show that you love your neighbor? Once more, let me cite John Wesley. In his sermon, “On Visiting the Sick,” he makes it clear that engaging in this ministry (all Christians, not just pastors) is a means a grace for the visitor every bit as much as the visited.

And, with friends in Christ, stop every six months or year (not too often) and look back. Have I grown? Can I testify to real victory in certain areas of my life? What changes does my small group see in me? Am I gaining ground in feeling the love of God and showing Christ’s love toward others?

In getting practical, I want to stress that you need more than a checklist of behaviors. We’re good at checking boxes. Did I read my Bible? (Check) Did I attend worship? (Check) Did I tithe this month? (Check) And so on. But checking boxes, merely going through the motions of behaviors does not a mature Christian make. Once more, thinking of these actions as means of grace keeps them in the framework of God’s goal of our growing to maturity

Keep in Mind

Finally, a couple of cautions. First, God doesn’t walk on and override our agency. We’re not little automatons that God manipulates. In The Faith Once Delivered, a good resource for growth in grace, you’ll find reference to the “cooperant grace, of God and humanity working together with God by grace.” God won’t run over your desires and prerogatives to get you where he wants you, but you can receive his grace and he will work with you to grow you up.

Second, we don’t need to feel strong to be strong in Christ. It’s the same with growth. We don’t always feel like we’re growing when we’re growing. Don’t wait around until you feel inspired or somehow adequate to the task. I repeat, you don’t have to feel strong to be strong in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul testifies about his weakness and what Christ said to his request for healing: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” Therefore, Paul could boast, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”

Spiritual growth is often an up-and-down experience. It’s not a straight line. It’s not automatic. It takes effort. We hit plateaus. We grow listless. We get tired. A season of difficulty can cause us to doubt. But we press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ! We don’t settle for anything less than Christlikeness. This is the goal of the Christian life, and, by God’s grace, we can arrive at the goal.

Stephen Rankin pastors Arkansas City United Methodist Church in Kansas. He also serves as executive director of Spiritual Maturity Project. He is author of Aiming at Maturity: the Goal of the Christian Life.