Meditation for Monday
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18
We grow in several different ways during our lives. The most obvious type of growth is physical, as babies develop into adolescents and as adolescents mature into teens and then into adults. Look around and you will see by the great variety of shapes and sizes of people that we do not grow at a uniform rate or to a uniform size. This lack of uniformity is also evident in the many other ways in which we grow. Generally accompanying physical growth are emotional, knowledge, and social growth. These are all important to the development of each of us as a person, as are other types of growth that sometimes does not happen in some people. For us as Christians, growing in grace is an important part of our development into useful and profitable children of God.
Simply put, growing in grace means becoming more like our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our role model for development in every aspect of our Christian life. We are to desire to be like Him in His commitment to His Father’s will and his dedication to serve and save others. ‘For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich’ (2 Corinthians 8:9). Another term that means very much the same as growing in grace is sanctification. This is a big word that means set apart or dedicated to our Master’s use. Again, the Lord Jesus is the perfect example of sanctification, and we grow in grace by following and imitating Him.
How do we grow in grace? Our text has the answer to that – growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Where do we get this knowledge? From His Word. We often gain inspiration by reading biographies of great men and women. It’s the same with reading the biographies of the Lord Jesus, as contained in the Gospels. The more we read these, the more we learn of Him. And the more we know of Him, the more grace we grow into. And it’s not just the Gospels; every portion of the Scriptures teach us about Christ!
Growing in grace does not mean receiving more grace from God. His grace is infinite, so we cannot receive more of His grace. But we can allow His grace to have more of us. And that is the type of growth that every one of us as Christians should desire. – Jim MacIntosh