The Grace That Remade William Wilberforce

In 1785, William Wilberforce was a twenty-five-year-old member of Parliament known for his charm, his gambling, and his love of fine wine and late-night card parties. He was brilliant, wealthy, and utterly directionless. Then grace appeared.

During a journey across Europe with his former schoolmaster Isaac Milner, Wilberforce began reading Philip Doddridge's The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. The Holy Spirit broke through. Wilberforce wept. He wrestled. And by the time he returned to England, he was a changed man.

But here is what matters most: grace did not merely save Wilberforce — it taught him. Over the next five decades, the man who once squandered evenings at card tables rose before dawn to pray. The politician who had chased approval learned to endure mockery, defeat, and exhaustion in his campaign to abolish the slave trade. Grace trained him to say no to the comfortable, self-serving life his wealth afforded and yes to the costly, upright work God had set before him.

Paul told Titus that the grace of God "teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age." Wilberforce learned that lesson with his whole life. Grace did not leave him as it found him. It never does.