Grow in God's grace and knowledge
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. 2 Peter 3:18 CSB
How can we as believers maintain our steadfastness and avoid being among the “unstable souls” who are easily enticed and led astray? By growing spiritually. “But be constantly growing” is the literal translation of the text. We should not grow “in spurts,” but in a constant experience of development. We must grow “in grace.” This has to do with Christian character traits, the very things Peter wrote about in 2 Peter 1:5–7, and that Paul wrote about in Galatians 5:22–23. We were saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8–9), but grace does not end there! We must also be strengthened by grace (2 Timothy 2:1–4). God’s grace can enable us to endure suffering (2 Corinthians 12:7–10). His grace also helps us to give when giving is difficult (2 Corinthians 8:1ff) and to sing when singing is difficult (Colossians 3:16). We have a God who is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10), who “gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). As we study His Word, we learn about the various aspects of grace that are available to us as children of God. We are “good stewards of the varied grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). There is grace for every situation and every challenge of life. Just like what Paul wrote, “by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10). This is our testimony: we become the person God wants us to be because of His grace. Growing in grace often means experiencing trials and even suffering. We never really experience the grace of God until we are at the end of our own resources. The lessons learned in the “school of grace” are always costly lessons, but they are worth it. To grow in grace means to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom “we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness” (John 1:16). How easy it is to grow in knowledge but not in grace! All of us know far more of the Bible than we really live. Knowledge without grace is a dreadful weapon, and grace without knowledge can be very shallow. But when we combine grace and knowledge, we have an amazing tool for building our lives and for building the church. We are to grow in the “knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” for He is central in the Bible. For when we grow knowing Christ as revealed through His Word, the more we grow in grace. So, when we grow in His grace and in His knowledge, we are guarded from the attacks of the false teachers. The more we grow in our spiritual lives, we manifest God’s “glory both now and to the day of eternity.”
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
