Craig T. Owens

When many people think of God’s grace, the most appropriate adjective they offer is amazing. I totally agree! And when I think of Jerry Bridges’ book Transforming Grace, the word amazing quickly comes to my mind again.

Truly this is one of the best books I have read addressing the topic of God’s grace. Bridges doesn’t range far and wide, but sticks to this one topic: when we truly begin to understand God’s grace, it will absolutely transform our lives.

Early in the book Bridges states the problematic paradigm many of us have about God’s grace—

“My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our personal relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we’ve performed well—whatever ‘well’ is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us. If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense, we live by works rather than by grace. We are saved by grace, but we are living by the ‘sweat’ of our own performance.” (emphasis added)

This book is jam-packed with so many paradigm-shifting thoughts, and is well grounded in the Scripture. Bridges transparently shares his own personal struggles with coming to grips with the true nature of God’s grace, and shares the quotes of many notable theologians as well. I loved this book!

If you want to live with a deeper understanding of how God’s grace can transform your life, I couldn’t recommend this book any more highly … this is a must read!