Digital Logos Edition
Tired of the performance treadmill? Once we commit our lives to Christ, most of us find it easy to trust God for our eternal salvation. But to live daily by His grace is often a different matter. We naturally drift into patterns of working hard for God's approval. Yet what we really need is to trust God for His daily transforming grace and the wonderful freedom from performance that grace gives.
A companion to the best-selling book Transforming Grace, this practical discussion guide offers you the opportunity to find that freedom—on your own or in the supportive community of your small group. In just eight sessions, you'll discover release into the inexhaustible, transforming grace of God.
Dr. Jerry Bridges (1929–2016) was an evangelical Christian author, speaker, and staff member of The Navigators, an international, interdenominational Christian ministry focusing on mentoring, discipling, and building relationships. Bridges earned his undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Oklahoma before serving as an officer in the United States Navy during the Korean War. He joined the Christian discipleship organization The Navigators in 1955, where he served as an administrative assistant to the Europe Director, office manager for the headquarters office, Secretary-Treasurer of the organization, and as Vice President for Corporate Affairs before moving to a staff development position with the Collegiate Mission.
“We are brought into God’s kingdom by grace; we are sanctified (the process of growing in our faith to become more like Christ) by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace.” (Page 10)
“A second area of legalism arises from believers holding differing opinions about certain practices. God allows equally godly people to have differing opinions on certain matters. We tend to universalize God’s particular leading in our lives and apply it to everyone else.” (Page 62)
“Our love for God, expressed through our obedience to Him, is to be a response to His love, not a means of earning it. So one clear evidence that we are living by grace is a loving obedience to the commands of God. Anyone who thinks, Since God’s love is not conditioned on my obedience, I am free to live as I please, is not living by grace, nor does he understand grace. What he perceives as grace is really a caricature of grace.” (Page 52)
“Yet legalism does indulge the sinful nature because it fosters self-righteousness and religious pride. It also diverts us from the real issues of the Christian life by focusing on external and sometimes trivial rules.” (Page 62)
“When we understand God’s magnificent and boundless grace, we become motivated by gratitude and love to respond with a life devoted to Him.” (Page 41)