When we encounter God’s grace, it doesn’t just change our eternal destination; it transforms how we live today. Rahab’s encounter with God’s grace immediately produced fruit in her life. She moved from self-preservation to sacrificial service. She went from living for herself to risking everything for God’s people.
This transformation wasn’t gradual or tentative. The same night she heard about Israel’s God, she was ready to die for His cause. Grace had not only saved her; it had completely reoriented her priorities and loyalties. She was no longer the same person who had been simply trying to survive in a pagan city.
This is what grace does. It doesn’t just forgive our past; it empowers our future. The same grace that saves us also sanctifies us, teaching us to say no to ungodliness and to live upright lives. Grace gives us new hearts that desire to please God rather than ourselves.
But grace also teaches us to extend mercy to others. Having received undeserved kindness from God, we become conduits of that same kindness to those around us. Grace received becomes grace given. Forgiveness experienced becomes forgiveness extended.