Grow in Grace: A Word on 2 Peter 3:18

If you knew you were writing your last letter, what would you want to say? Peter, near the end of his life, lays down his pen with a single closing charge:

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.

It would be easy to read that word grow as pressure, one more thing we are failing at. But look carefully at what we are told to grow in. Not first in discipline. Not first in knowledge of rules. We are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of a Person.

Grace is where we began. None of us came to Christ by our own goodness; we came with empty hands. And grace is also where we keep going. The same unearned kindness that saved us is the soil our whole life grows in.

Two things that grow together

Peter joins grace and knowledge on purpose. Knowledge without grace can make us proud and cold. Grace without knowledge drifts into sentiment. But when they grow together, we come to know more of Jesus and to be more amazed by his kindness at the same time.

That is what spiritual maturity really looks like. Not a hardened expert, but a person who knows the Lord more deeply and rests in his grace more fully than they did a year ago.

A gentle question

So here is a question to carry into the day, not to scold yourself with, but to sit with quietly: Do I know Jesus a little better today than I once did? Am I a little more astonished by his grace?

If so, you are growing, even on the days it does not feel like it. The same Lord who began this work will carry it through to the day of eternity. To him be the glory.

This is sample devotional content for the site. Clark and Kathy's own writing will appear here.