Some days it is a challenge to do something that helps me become more like Christ. To do the things he would do. To say the words he would say. To love the way he would love. Let me confess, most days I find it impossible—in my own strength—to do anything that helps me become more like Christ.
When Wesley called people to pursue perfection or holiness or entire sanctification, he knew that he was calling them to something they could not accomplish on their own. Nevertheless, his deep conviction of the love of God helped him see that God provides resources for those who have faith in Jesus. These resources Wesley called the “means of grace.”
The means of grace are those spiritual disciplines that are described in Scripture and which have been practiced by people of faith for thousands of years. Wesley summarized them as “works of mercy” and “works of piety.” The “works of mercy” are doing no harm, avoiding evil, and doing all the good one can. Today these “works of mercy” are sometimes referred to as the “General Rules,” and may be described as acts of compassion and acts of justice. The “works of piety” include private and family prayer, searching the Scriptures, The Lord's Supper, the public worship of God, Christian conference, and fasting or abstinence.
Wesley believed "first, the Christian life is most fundamentally lived as a response to God's love for us. To know God truly is to experience that love. Second, our love for God and our neighbor are core affections, emotions, or tempers which govern the Christian life." The means of grace are the means to living out this love. As they are faithfully practiced, the relationships of love for God and for neighbor are nurtured.
The means of grace draw us out of ourselves and into the world as channels of God's love. They form us, by grace, into the image and likeness of Christ. They draw us closer to one another in love. As we are drawn closer to one another, we are drawn closer to Christ and become more like him.
That's the way the world is transformed!
