Part 6- Grace That Transforms: Grace Doesn’t Leave You Where It Found You

If justification is the gavel of grace declaring you “not guilty,” transformation is the hand of grace lifting you to your feet and leading you into a new life.

Too many people think grace is a free pass to stay the same. But real grace doesn’t just forgive, it changes you. Grace meets you in your mess, but it refuses to leave you there.

Titus 2:11–12 (LSB) says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”

Grace saves, and grace trains.

Grace Is a Teacher, Not a Bystander
Think of grace like a patient teacher. It doesn’t just tell you, “You’re forgiven.” It walks with you, showing you how to live in that forgiveness.

• Grace teaches you to say “no” to sin.
• Grace teaches you to walk in holiness.
• Grace teaches you to live for God instead of yourself.

Without grace, we are slaves to sin. But with grace, we are set free to live as sons and daughters of God.

Grace Empowers, It Doesn’t Excuse
A lot of Christians get this backward. They treat grace like an excuse to live carelessly:

• “God will forgive me, so it doesn’t matter.”
• “I’m under grace, not law, so I can do what I want.”

That’s not grace, that’s cheap grace. True grace is costly. It was purchased with the blood of Jesus.

Real grace doesn’t make sin safe; it makes holiness possible.

Romans 6:14 (LSB) says, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Grace doesn’t make sin acceptable; it breaks sin’s power.

Grace Produces Evidence
When grace takes root in your life, it produces visible fruit. People will see a change, because grace always moves you forward.

• Your desires change. The things that once satisfied you leave you empty.
• Your habits change. What once controlled you loses its grip.
• Your purpose changes. Life becomes about pleasing God, not yourself.

Second Corinthians 5:17 (LSB) declares, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Transformation is the evidence that grace is real in your life.

Living in Transforming Grace
So how do we cooperate with the grace that changes us?

Stay in God’s Word. Grace flows through truth. The more you know His Word, the more you’ll know His will. Pray for strength. Grace empowers, but we must continually seek God’s help to walk in it. Walk in community. Grace grows in the soil of fellowship and accountability. Confess and repent quickly. When you stumble, run to grace, not away from it.

Grace is not passive. It’s active. It’s the ongoing power of God at work in your life, shaping you to look more like Jesus every day.

Next Up: Part 7 – “When Grace Hurts: Receiving What You Didn’t Ask For.”
Grace isn’t always soft. Sometimes it comes through trials, pain, and pruning. In the next post, we’ll explore how God’s grace sustains us even when it hurts.

In Love,

Pastor Jody