Growing in Grace

“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.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Bodily exercise is profitable for a little [time], but piety [godliness] is profitable for everything, having promise of life, of the present one, and of that to come” (1 Timothy 4:8 JND).

As well as a careful diet, those who compete in the Olympics must train and exercise regularly, often for years, before competing in the games. Those who compete have a goal to win in their particular sport, and do not resent spending the time to train for it. They learn to “push themselves,” always trying to do better today than they did yesterday.

The Apostle Paul compares the Christian life to a race, and he speaks of exercise several times. He points out that bodily exercise is good, but reminds us that it does us good only during our life down here. Yes, it is good to take care of our bodies, and keep them in good shape. I had a good friend in the U.S.A., and when I visited there, he often took me to the gym with him. He said that he went there mainly because the exercise made him “feel good.” Most of us in today’s world should engage in more exercise.

But piety (godliness) is profitable, not only during our Christian life down here, but also for all eternity. The truth of God is meant to be held in exercise. What does this mean? It means that not only should we read the Word of God, but that we also should walk in it. This does take time and requires effort, just as physical exercise requires planning and effort. If we are not willing to take the time for physical exercise, when we really want to do some work, we will find that we do not have the strength. So it is with our spiritual health. We must discipline ourselves to “spiritual exercise.”

Spiritual exercise can be both positive and negative. In Acts 24:16, the Apostle Paul says, “And herein (in this) do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.” He was careful to exercise himself positively, in walking with the Lord, but he was also careful to avoid things which might spoil his spiritual state, and weaken his spiritual strength. It is important for us do the same!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).

As we have seen, it is very important for us as Christians to have proper spiritual food. Sometimes it takes real effort to obtain that food, but it is worth it, for it nourishes our souls and gives us strength. However, sometimes there are those who are spiritually weak, or spiritually sick, and then they may not have the energy to obtain their own food. Also, sometimes there those who are spiritually wealthy, and who have a lot of good food. In that case, it is nice for them to provide for others who may not have enough.

It would seem that this happened with the Israelites when they collected the manna in the wilderness. You will remember that they had to get up early to gather it, for if they waited too long, the hot sun would come out, and it would be gone. Probably some had the energy to gather more than others, but you could never “eat leftovers” with manna. No, if they tried to keep it until the next day, worms began to grow in it and it stank. They had to gather it every day except on the Sabbath. Older people who had some arthritis might have found it more difficult to stoop down and pick up manna! But in Exodus 16:18 it says, “He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.” Evidently those who had gathered more than they needed for the day shared with those who had not been able to gather enough. The Apostle Paul used this same verse in the New Testament, when he wrote to the Corinthians about Christian giving, and using their money for the Lord. You can find it in 2 Corinthians 8:15.

It is always nice to be able to share with someone else a verse or a nice thought that we have enjoyed from the Word of God. It is even more wonderful than sharing manna or money, for if we give some money to someone, then we have less money ourselves. But if we share some spiritual food, we do not lose what we give. In fact, we are fed ourselves!

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“The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting” (Proverbs 12:27).

Most of us today do not have to go out and hunt in order to have food to eat; we can simply go down to the grocery store and buy it. But in the past, it was common for people to have to go out and hunt, if they wanted food. Before Europeans came to North America, the indigenous people here were excellent hunters with bows and arrows, and spears. A large part of their diet came from hunting. Later, when the continent was being settled, many of the first pioneers got their fresh meat from hunting. You may remember too that in the Bible, when Isaac wanted his son Esau to prepare some nice meat for him, Esau had to go out hunting to get it. Even today in North America some people like to go out hunting for deer, elk, or moose in the fall, in order to have meat in their freezers for the winter.

It takes effort to go hunting, and sometimes real persistence, for it is not always easy to find something. However, according to our verse, a man might go out and get something in hunting, yet not be willing to prepare it and roast it, so that he could eat it. After all, hunting can be a bit exciting, but preparing meat and then roasting it is not nearly as much fun. But unless the man roasted the meat, it would not do him any good. It takes effort to hunt, but it also takes effort to prepare the meat and roast it, so that it is ready to eat.

In spiritual things, it takes time and effort to read the Word of God, and this is good, but it is not enough. In order to profit from what we have read, it is good to meditate on it. This means to think about it, and then to put it into practice in our lives. Simply reading the Bible, but then forgetting what we have read, will not really feed our souls in the right way. No, we must be willing to let it form our thoughts and be part of us. Then what we do in our life will be according to God’s Word, and His Word will be like food for our bodies.

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“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (1 Corinthians 3:2).

How would you like it if, when you sat down to dinner, your mother simply put a baby’s bottle of milk in front of you? Or perhaps served you up a jar or two of baby food? You would be insulted, and would likely say, “I would like some normal food; I’m not a baby anymore!” When we were babies, we drank plenty of milk, and probably ate baby food too, but as we got older and our teeth came in, we began to eat solid food such as meat and vegetables.

If people get sick, or perhaps have trouble chewing and digesting their food, they may have to eat baby food for a while, until they feel well again. Baby food is usually already pureed, so that we do not need to chew it. All we have to do is swallow it.

The Christians in Corinth were an intelligent group of believers, and they had some nice spiritual gifts too. But in spiritual things they were immature, and the Apostle Paul had to feed them spiritually as if they were babies. They should have been more mature, for Paul had spent a long time among them, and had taught them many things about the Lord Jesus. But they were worldly people and tended to think of money and education as being more important than spiritual maturity. Also, they were fighting among themselves, each one wanting to be more important than the others. Paul wanted to feed them more than “spiritual baby food,” but he knew that they were not ready for it.

Sad to say, some Christians have this problem today. They are content with all the simple things of Christianity, but are not mature enough to enjoy things that are deeper and that will lead them on to full growth. A child that lives on baby food all its life will not grow up to be strong and healthy; nor will a Christian who lives on spiritual baby food all the time grow up to be a strong Christian. The Lord wants us to grow up as Christians, and to be able to eat a normal spiritual diet.

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“As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me” (John 6:57).

As I write some of these meditations, the summer Olympics are going on in Tokyo, Japan in the year 2021. Many athletes from different nations are competing, but one thing is common to all of them. Over the past few years, they have been very careful about what they eat, in order to build strong bodies that can compete in their particular sport. Also, sports differ as to proper dietary requirements. Those like heavyweight boxers, wrestlers, weightlifters, etc. will tend to eat a lot of calories, much of it in the form of protein, while runners and swimmers will eat much lighter meals, especially on the day they are going to race.

Perhaps more important, they will avoid things that they know will harm their bodies, and perhaps slow them down. One girl confessed that it was very hard for her to avoid eating pizza, as it is one of her favorite foods. Yet she willingly stops eating it, in order to be able to race well. All Olympic competitors avoid foods high in simple sugars, such as doughnuts and candy, but almost all eat avocados in some form or other.

It is much the same in the Christian life. If we include in our diet such things as “spiritual junk food,” it will impair our spiritual health. Spiritual junk food can include things such as light reading, surfing the internet for spiritual help, listening constantly to the wrong kind of music on earbuds, spending hours on Facebook, etc. Even some kinds of Christian reading can be junk food because it occupies us mainly with ourselves, instead of with Christ. All this will tend to spoil our appetites for good spiritual food.

As we see in our verse above, feeding on Christ is the proper food of the Christian, and it does not require a diploma in nutrition to know how to do it. The enjoyment of Christ in our hearts comes from feeding on Him as the bread of life. It is feeding on Him that nourishes our souls properly and gives us the energy to live for His glory. That is why it is so important to read the Word of God every day, just as we eat every day.

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“What king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage (messenger), and desireth conditions of peace” (Luke 14:31-32).

The world has known times of peace, when building could be done, but has also known times of war, when someone would attack, and try to take away what they had built. As in our verses today, sometimes the armies were not equal, and then the king with the smaller army might try to arrange a peace treaty, instead of going to war.

It can be like that in our Christian life too. We may be diligent in reading, prayer, and “building ourselves up on our most holy faith,” but then Satan comes along to attack us. He is like the king with twenty thousand soldiers, and we are like the king with only ten thousand. He is stronger than we are, and we may be tempted to make peace with Him, instead of resisting Him. But if we want a peace treaty, it is always the stronger person who dictates the terms of the peace treaty, and Satan is no different. He will promise us an easier life in this world, but he will force us to give up things that are very important to us as Christians. Sad to say, too many believers are doing that today, in order to have an easier life. Then we lose spiritually, even though our life may be easier.

What then is the answer, if Satan is stronger than we are? How are we to win the battle? We must ask the Lord for help, for He has already defeated Satan at the cross, and Satan knows this. For this reason James tells us, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). If we try to fight with Satan in our own strength, he will always win, but if we go out to battle with the Lord’s strength, we will always win. We may still have difficulties in this world, for the world has rejected the Lord Jesus. But we will have the joy in our souls of walking with the Lord, and honoring Him.

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“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply [perhaps], after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:28-30).

In the area where I used to live, there was a man who began to build a big house. It was so large that it even had an indoor swimming pool. But he ran out of money, and was not able to finish it. Other people knew who he was, and often made fun of him, just as our verses say. He wanted that big house, but he had not calculated the cost, and eventually someone else bought it and finished it.

This is a good lesson for us in our Christian life. When we are first saved, we are often very ready to follow the Lord Jesus, and to live for Him in this world. But then we find out that there is a cost involved in having regular Bible reading, prayer, and Christian fellowship in our lives. There is also a cost involved in giving up the things of this world, in order to follow the Lord. Sometimes we are not ready to pay that cost, and then we do not finish well in our Christian life. I have known more than one Christian who started out well, and then decided that it was too hard to be a Christian in this world. They stopped pleasing the Lord, and just drifted along with the world. After a while, if you did not know that they were believers in the Lord Jesus, you would never guess from watching them, for they acted pretty much like worldly people.

In the history of this world, building has been very important. People have built homes in which to live, but have also built fortifications so that they could defend what they had built. So it is in our Christian life. Jude tells us that we must be diligent in “building up yourselves on your most holy faith” (Jude, v. 20), and this means spending time reading the Word of God, praying, and getting together with other Christians for fellowship. This will take time and energy, but we must be willing to take the time to do it. Then we will be able, with the Lord’s help, not only to begin our Christian life, but to finish it well.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

It is important for us to have sleep, and most of us need about eight hours every night. But some people can exist with much less sleep, and I have known people who needed only about four hours sleep at night. William Van Horne, who became president of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1888, was like that. He often used to monitor the telegraph messages on the trains in the middle of the night, when some of the telegraph boys thought everybody else was asleep, and took the opportunity to send silly messages along the line. Then Mr. Van Horne would interrupt them, and when they found out who it was, they were somewhat shocked and surprised to find that the president of the railway was awake at that time, and listening to them. When someone asked him once why he did not sleep more, he replied, “Because when you are asleep, you don’t know what is going on!” He was a good president of the railway, because he usually knew just about everything that was going on.

We need a certain amount of natural sleep, but according to our verse, it is not good to be spiritually asleep. Many people in this world are spiritually asleep, and do not realize that judgment is ahead for them. They simply carry on with life, and perhaps pleasure too, yet do not think that someday they will have to meet God. Those who meet Him in their sins will have to spend an eternity in that awful place called hell.

But it is easy too for a Christian to be asleep spiritually, and Paul warns us about this in our verse. Instead of sleeping, we are to watch, and be sober. This does not mean that we need to stay awake at night, but it means that we are to be on guard in this world, and not just floating along with those who do not know the Lord Jesus. Any dead fish can float down the river with the current, but it takes an energetic, live fish to swim upstream, against the current. Perhaps you have seen pictures or videos of fish who do this, especially in the spring when they swim upstream to spawn. They can even jump up small waterfalls, they are so determined. The Lord wants us to be like those fish, and not to be spiritually asleep. The Lord wants us to be sober, or serious, about our Christian life.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

This is a very important verse. It is good to learn the lesson it teaches at a young age. In Romans chapter 12, Paul is giving a lot of good instruction to believers, as to how to behave in their Christian lives, whether in meeting the world, or meeting with other believers. Finally, he sums it all up in our verse for today, and we notice that the verse has two parts. We are not to be overcome of evil, but we are to overcome evil with good.

It is very easy in this world for us as Christians to be overcome of evil. Peter, one of the most valued disciples of the Lord Jesus, found this out. He was overconfident in his own ability to be faithful to the Lord, but when he got into the company of this world, he very soon denied ever knowing the Lord Jesus. When someone said, for the third time, that Peter was with the Lord Jesus, he even began to curse and to swear. If Peter had not been so confident in himself, he would have relied more on the Lord’s strength, and he would not have denied his Lord.

But the other half of the verse is important too. It is not enough merely to avoid doing what is wrong. We are also to do what is right, and then we overcome evil with good. When the Lord Jesus was being crucified, he did not complain or say anything to the soldiers who were doing it. He did not threaten them when they made fun of Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, or when they scourged Him. Rather, He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He was not overcome of evil, but He overcame evil with good.

The Lord wants us to do the same thing. We do not need to be defeated by the evil in this world, for the Lord wants to help us get the victory. But He also wants us to follow His example in overcoming the evil with good.

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