According to Wesleyan tradition, there are three kinds of grace. The first of these is something known as Prevenient grace. This is the type of God's presence that engulfs us from the very beginning, surrounding us even when we don't realize that we need Him. It is something that is freely given from the Father, without an expectation that it will be reciprocated. The way I tend to think of this concept is that it exemplifies a situation where we need help, and God provides.
The second type of grace is called Justifying grace. This is where we get help. It is that action from God which allows for the pardon of sin. It is at this point we are confronted with a choice I think - do we choose to follow God and accept Jesus, or not? We have the ability to ignore or respond at this point. If we are wise and accept the gift of Jesus, our sins are nullified, and we have the assurance of salvation and life everlasting.
The third type of grace is Sanctifying grace. This is where we are able to give help. I tend to think of sanctification as a process which extends over a lifetime. It is that time frame where God works on us in little ways here and there in order to make us more holy, just like Jesus. It is sometimes a painful process (like when we must actively repent from the hold that sin has on our life). But it is often a great joy also, as it allows for opportunities where we can use the things that God has done in our lives to help edify and build up other people. God saved us, now we work to help move others toward an understanding of the Gospel message. This is no small thing.
I have often heard where people have compared these three types of grace to a house. The front porch of the house is where a person first arrives. They may choose to stay on the porch, or to gather up the courage to actually knock on the front door. You made it this far, right? Might as well knock. This is Prevenient grace in action.
The foyer of the house is analogous to a person coming inside to stay a while. Salutations have been exchanged between the visitor and the homeowner at this point, and it is time to come inside and take your jacket off. There may be a coat rack, or even a comfortable bench perhaps. The point is that we made the choice to enter, and the owner has accepted us inside. Now the real learning can begin. This is justifying grace.
Finally, as we are given a tour of the house, the new arrival is subject to Sanctifying grace. Full access has been granted, and we may roam freely. In this manner we get to know the floor plan really well. The furniture, the window treatments ... all become familiar territory. And then the really good news strikes us - if we want, we may seek to invite other people into the home as well. If we are courageous enough in fact, we will ask them to stay a while. This is Sanctifying grace in action.
As you can imagine, God's house in this story is well built. A large open front porch, a spacious entry way and foyer, followed by several master bedrooms and a large living area and kitchen. It has central heating and cooling of course ... no window air conditioners or space heaters for God's dwelling place. But if we decide not to enter, we may find ourselves back in a one room studio apartment in no time. Cold showers and backed up plumbing will be the order of the day. Hopefully we are invited back to the large house again, and the sooner the better!
As with any metaphor however, there is a way to intellectually cheat. A way to attempt to 'jump ahead' in the process a bit. Some may find themselves wanting to stand outside the front porch and speak with Jesus through an open window, for example. They don't want to come inside, but rather just to kind of hang out in the backyard. They are screaming their prayers here and there through the window, but making sure never to come too close to Jesus himself. No, they are perfectly comfortable on the sidelines. Grace is attractive to these folks, but the open window may be as close as they ever get to God's purpose for their lives. A sad reality. They will never know the comfort of taking tea by the fireplace.
Make no mistake, God wants more from them (and from us) than this type of strained relationship. In fact, the Bible tells us that God wants our whole heart. Listen to what Proverbs 23:26 says: "My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways..."
This comes from a Biblical excerpt where the wayward person is being warned against having an adulterous affair with someone. God is making a plea for us to keep our eyes on Him, such that we might avoid pitfalls and snares like this. Because He wants our whole heart; we are that important to Him.
C.S. Lewis likewise says this in his book Mere Christianity: "Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self---in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart."
It seems then, that God is interested in us responding to His grace very much. No one stays 'lost' unless they want to. No one simply loiters on the front porch forever, or stays content shouting through the backyard window unless they choose to be there. God invites us in, and we had better seriously consider obeying that request.
We have the freewill to choose otherwise, of that I'm sure. But we humans are often a bit silly, and full of pride. We act in peculiar ways. At times, if it were up to us, I think we would rather run things ourselves. To stay in the backyard and talk through a window. In fact, I think we tried that once; I remember an ancient story about a garden, a serpent, and two disobedient people deciding to do something similar. Look how things turned out for them. Better to go inside the house I think - don't you?
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