What’s the Big Deal About Prevenient Grace?

What is prevenient grace?  What the heck does prevenient even mean?  As they say, let’s begin at the beginning!

Christianity is the only religion in the world where God makes the first move.  God loves us so much, that he reaches out to us before we even begin to think about reaching out to him.  Think about it in scripture….God reached out to Adam when he was hiding in the garden….God reached out to Abraham and told him to leave his father’s house…God reached out to Moses through the burning bush while Moses was tending sheep…Jesus reached out to His disciples saying ‘Follow Me.’

This love of God for us, even though we are in a broken and sinful world is also known as God’s prevenient grace.  Prevenient is an old English word that comes from Latin.  It means before, or precedes.  So a literal translation would be “before grace” or “preceding grace”.  One of John Wesley’s (the founder of Methodism) fundamental contributions to modern Christianity is the doctrine of prevenient grace.

So, we know that God loves us before we love Him.  But what does that really mean?  What is a good example of prevenient grace that can be applied to the modern world?

I like to think of it as a swimming pool.  The swimming pool is the world – full of sin, heartache, despair, and everything in between.  God’s fallen creation that we all live in.  The deck of the pool is where we are in a good relationship with God.  Saved through the blood of His Son, Jesus.  Some of us might be on the deck shivering and wet, and others may be all warm and dry, but Jesus is the one who got us there.

Prevenient grace is Jesus’ hand reaching out for us while we are still in the pool.  Some of us might be so mired in sin that we’re all the way out in the middle of the pool, while others might be very close to the edge.  But no one can climb out of the pool by themselves – there is no ladder.  God’s prevenient grace is the hand, reaching out to pull us out of the pool.

BUT – and here’s the big but – we have to respond in faith by taking His hand.  God doesn’t force us to grab his hand to help us out of the pool.  If He did, there would be no free will.  God’s love and grace reaches out to us saying “Here, I love you and want you to trust me.  Take My hand and I’ll never let you go.”

Michael Paul and Pastor Dad truly hope you accept that hand that’s offered.  We will pray for you, so please comment if you need prayer, are struggling, or just need to know someone is thinking about you and whatever situation you are in.  May God richly bless you!