The Grace That Taught Wilberforce to Say No

In 1785, William Wilberforce was a young Member of Parliament with everything the world could offer — wealth, charm, political influence, and a calendar full of gambling parties and lavish dinners. He was, by his own later admission, living entirely for himself.

Then grace appeared. Through conversations with his old schoolmaster Isaac Milner and a careful reading of the New Testament during a journey across France, Wilberforce encountered the living God. The experience so overwhelmed him that he nearly abandoned politics altogether. But his friend John Newton — the former slave trader turned pastor — urged him to stay in Parliament, insisting that God had placed him there for a purpose.

What followed was not a comfortable faith. Grace taught Wilberforce to say no — no to the social circles that profited from the slave trade, no to political convenience, no to the easy path of silence. For twenty years he endured ridicule, death threats, and repeated legislative defeats as he fought to abolish the British slave trade. He gave up the gambling tables, simplified his lifestyle, and poured his fortune into causes for the poor.

Grace did not leave Wilberforce as it found him. It trained him, shaped him, and gave him the holy stubbornness to live an upright life in a corrupt age.

That is exactly what Paul describes in Titus 2 — a grace that does not merely rescue us but teaches us to live differently, right here, right now, in this present age.