Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards

by Kyle Strobel

One of the movements of the Christian life is to learn the grammar of grace, to come to know and understand how God reveals himself in the souls of his people. Grace is more than God’s niceness; it is God’s movement of love to reveal himself and draw his people back to him in love. Grace helps us become dependent upon God so that we can live out the way of holiness. Grace is not ours to have, but resides within us as a person of God—the Holy Spirit. Grace is not some kind of stuff that God gives us so that we can become better people. Grace is not like an energy drink we can use to boost our potential. Rather, grace is a relational aspect of our life with God; it is a part of the overall message of communion and union with God the Father, in Christ Jesus, through the indwelling Spirit. Therefore, the life of grace will be equally relational. Edwards’s point in the quote above narrates this well. Why does the Spirit continue to act in the soul? Not because of anything we do, but only by God’s grace and God’s covenant with us. In short, we can grow in grace because God has given himself to his people in love and has covenanted with us. We never lay claim on grace. Grace is always a gift. Therefore, in the same way, the life of grace will always be a life of receiving grace from the God who freely gives.