Grace: Passive or Active

I was listening to a message on Grace from a fairly new TV ministry. Reading Paul’s letters to Timothy I am reminded of how, as pastors, we can take something good and misrepresent it in our messages. Grace is often preached from a passive perspective from the offenders viewpoint. This means that while we make a true statement when we speak of God’s grace being free and for all humanity, we often stop short of telling the believer about accepting God’s grace. Preaching God’s grace from the passive perspective keeps people happy and doesn’t step on their toes. However, I believe when we teach or preach only the “feel good” parts of the gospel and leave out the accountability we do more harm to an individual. In other words we speak of grace as not being the transforming agent of one’s heart but as a “cheap” trick conjured up by God. People use God’s grace to legitimize their acts towards others. The accountability that comes from turning from our sin(s) and the accepting of God’s grace begins the transformation process. Is it not the transformation of individuals that witnesses to the crowds.