"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ."
2 Peter 3:18
2 Peter 3:18
"Grow in grace"--not in one grace only, but in all grace. Grow in
that root-grace, faith. Believe the promises more firmly than you have
done. Let faith increase in fulness, constancy, simplicity. Grow also in
love. Ask that your love may become extended, more intense, more
practical, influencing every thought, word, and deed. Grow likewise in
humility. Seek to lie very low, and know more of your own nothingness.
As you grow downward in humility, seek also to grow
upward--having nearer approaches to God in prayer and more intimate
fellowship with Jesus. May God the Holy Spirit enable you to "grow in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour." He who grows not in the knowledge of
Jesus, refuses to be blessed. To know Him is "life eternal," and to advance in
the knowledge of Him is to increase in happiness. He who does not long to know
more of Christ, knows nothing of Him yet. Whoever hath sipped this wine will
thirst for more, for although Christ doth satisfy, yet it is such a
satisfaction, that the appetite is not cloyed, but whetted. If you know the love
of Jesus--as the hart panteth for the water-brooks, so will you pant after
deeper draughts of His love. If you do not desire to know Him better, then you
love Him not, for love always cries, "Nearer, nearer." Absence from Christ is
hell; but the presence of Jesus is heaven. Rest not then content without an
increasing acquaintance with Jesus. Seek to know more of Him in His divine
nature, in His human relationship, in His finished work, in His death, in His
resurrection, in His present glorious intercession, and in His future royal
advent. Abide hard by the Cross, and search the mystery of His wounds. An
increase of love to Jesus, and a more perfect apprehension of His love to us is
one of the best tests of growth in grace.
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