| “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). |
| When we are children, we all like to grow. I well remember that when I was growing up, we had a paper measuring line taped to a wall in our home. Every so often my brothers and I would stand with our backs to that measuring line, to see how much we had grown during the last few months. When we were being measured, we would stand up very straight, so that we would be as tall as possible. Sometimes we had grown only a little, and at other times we grew a lot. But eventually we came to a time when we did not grow any taller. We had to be content with our height then, for we had reached the height that we would have as adults. Some of us wished we were taller, but we could not do anything about it, for the Bible reminds us, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” (Matthew 6:27). A cubit is about eighteen inches, or 45 centimeters, so that would be a lot of extra height! But none of us can get extra height just by wishing for it. |
| Here in our verse the Apostle Peter is telling us to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no limit to how much we can grow in this way, for we should never stop growing spiritually as Christians. No matter how long we live, we can always continue to grow in grace. |
| What does it mean to grow in grace? Grace is the favor of God that we do not deserve. We were lost guilty sinners and did not deserve to have salvation offered to us through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But God gives it to us because of His grace. As we go on in our Christian life, we learn more of the grace of God, and appreciate it more. In this way we grow in grace and realize more the love that God has toward us. We realize more and more that everything we have is because of the grace of God. We will learn more of His grace for all eternity in heaven. |
