The book of Genesis states the universe, as originally created, was good but mankind rebelled against the Creator (God). This means that human beings are by nature biased to disobey (sin) against God. For humans to survive in God’s universe, however, they must obey his principles. But how can people biased to sin against God obey him?
God has graciously given fallen mankind a limited ability to obey. This explains why people can survive in God’s universe for a time even though they are in a state of rebellion against him. This divinely ordained power is called “common grace.”
Common grace empowers rebellious people to treat other people well, tell the truth, be creative, and work hard. But common grace is limited—it does not provide the power to eradicate sin, which is the root issue. Therefore, rebellious people can function according to God’s principles only with limited success, which means that they can realize part of their potential as human beings. Latent human potential cannot be fully released based solely on common grace; consequently, to maximize human potential requires grace beyond common grace, that is, it requires the grace of Christ.
The grace of Christ is the power to progressively eliminate sin. During this life, humans never fully experience complete deliverance from the bias to sin; nevertheless, humans can experience increasing freedom from sin and therefore empowerment to more fully realize their God-given potential.
A person who is being progressively delivered from sin’s power through the grace of Christ is a person who is being transformed into Christ’s image. Such a person will progressively act and speak more and more like Christ. The fruit of this transformation is the capacity to function with increasing excellence in every area of life—in the home, in the workplace, in the church, and in the community.
As noted in the text above, the genesis of the transformation process is the sovereign implantation of the Word of God in us through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Professing Christians are responsible to receive the implanted Word with meekness. According to Vine’s Dictionary, meekness means that in every situation, no matter how difficult, we should always believe that God is working good. By meekly receiving the implanted Word, we grow and mature in the grace of Christ and are, therefore, empowered to fulfill our potential.
Here is your business tip. Organizational leaders and managers must hire the right people (those in the process of transformation) and build cultures that support Christ-centered transformation. People limited to common grace have limited ability to reach their potential. Workers, however, who are being transformed by Christ are empowered to fulfill their potential. And in the process of fulfilling their potential, these people will facilitate organizational excellence by delivering world-class value to those the organization serves.
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