This is the imperative Peter leaves us with at the end of his second letter. The verse reads, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:18 NIV).
Sunday morning at Metro, Richard and I will be discussing the idea of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. If you do not have a regular church service you attend, join with us via your computer. We stream the service to the internet. Go to http://realanswers.net and click the Metro television icon. The service starts at 10:15 central time.
If you have questions or comments you would like to submit for the discussion, do so in the comment section below.
I do look forward to hearing your thoughts on growing in grace.
I looked up the word grow in the Complete Word Study Dictionary. The definition is fascinating. The word is auxano. The general definition is to grow, increase, or to augment. This growth is not self-initiated. “For someone to grow,” Zodhiates wrote, “he/she must be acted upon by an outside power or have the element of life within him/her.”
Believers have life within them, Jesus’ life. Jesus causes us to grow.
We grow in grace because that is where we live. In Christ, we are never outside the realm of God’s kindness and favor.
This sets the stage for Sunday’s discussion. We will get specific as to what it looks like to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
But for now, I leave you with this question. In what ways have you grown in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus?
Bob great post. when answering the question as how I have grown in the Grace and Knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ I would say this. The growing in Grace portion has been a settling of myself in that because of Grace I look at people in and out of the body more understandingly of who they are. I am not as demanding of what I see or do not see, thats not my job. My job is to exercise my freedom being in Christ as He directs my eyes and lips through the Heart He has given me. In doing this I am free to experience a great and closer knowledge of the One who has sent me. The knowledge of Christ is a greater avenue to experience all He has for me in godliness and Life.
Maybe,just maybe, a clue to the power of that verse is found in the first word of the verse.”But”.Understanding”carried away by the error of lawless men “in the previous verse will explain”growing in grace and knowledge”.If the meaning of lawless men is to reject the purpose of the law and remain in the mystery of ages past,then lawfull men use the law to point to Christ.So growing in grace is standing firm throughout every dot of time and not being moved from that position of what is lawless and what is lawfull.You grow because every .new section of time brings a new and different opportunity to experience standing firm”in your secure position.
Sounds great in this version too…
” I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” NLT
Surely our secure footing is indeed knowing with certainty our growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord is dependant on His Life within us.
In the same way that sap brings forth growth through the tree, producing buds, leaves, and fruit, growth must happen in us too because His life is present in us.
That’s how I like to picture it, and I thank God for giving me this miraculous ‘Life’.
Both Bob G and C, have helped me over the years to understand more of His unconditional love for me, so I have then been able to understand more of the grace and knowledge of Him.