Watching our garden grow is a delight for us. My husband does the planting, cultivating, weeding, and reaping. My part begins when the vegetables are harvested. Preserving vegetables is something I look forward to each summer. While it’s hard work, it is so satisfying to know the food we eat throughout the year was grown in our own yard under the watchful and wise care of my husband.
Unfortunately, however, our growing season is limited to a few short summer months. We don’t enjoy a year-round growing season like many countries do … we are limited by seasons and weather.
When the Word of God instructs us to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord,” the author wasn’t referencing a seasonal growing season. Our growth in God is cultivated year-round, not only in the summer months.
Actually, growing in grace is an automatic byproduct of growing in the knowledge of our Lord. The two go together … you cannot grow in grace unless you grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ … every day, not seasonally.
“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)
What is grace? It is being found acceptable, to be favored, and to have a divine influence on your heart. Of course we all want to grow in grace – to grow in favor with God, to be found acceptable, and to have Him influence all that we are and all that concerns us.
What is the knowledge of our Lord? If you ask around, most people you talk to will tell you they believe in God. But do they have knowledge of our Lord? Relatively few really do.
This knowledge that Peter describes is more than just acknowledgement that there is a God. Rather, it is a familiarity with God’s character, endeavoring to become acquainted with Him and His personality, to understand Him – who He is, what He does, what He purposes, and what He commands.
Psalm 111:2 says “The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” Anyone who desires to find or who finds “pleasure” in the Lord will seek out His works—seek to know how God responded and directed throughout Biblical history. The word “pleasure” means to desire a valuable thing. Anyone who desires the Lord will seek out His works as if they were a most valuable possession. God delights in those who sincerely desire knowing who and what He is and who inquire with all due humility and reverence to know His will and His works.
How can you grow in the knowledge of our Lord? He has given all we could ever possibly need to know in the written Word. John 21:25 says “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” Every pertinent piece of information we need to know about Him and our relationship with Him is contained in the Word of God. Yet, while people say they long to know the Lord, they fail to open the Book to find out who He is.
Don’t be like those who just murmur and complain because they don’t really know the Lord, make a commitment to read your Bible daily and spend time with Him in prayer.
Do you want to grow in grace? Begin to grow in the knowledge of Him who gives grace to all who seek Him. Don’t wait for tomorrow, start now. Don’t depend on someone else’s study of the Word to help you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him, open the Book and let the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ grow in you. Grow in knowledge and grace … it’s not a suggestion, it’s a command!
Father, sometimes it’s the hardest thing for us to discipline ourselves to be diligent in our pursuit of You. Help me to never forget. Draw me to Your Word like a magnet and satisfy this longing in my heart to know You more. In Jesus’ precious name, by His blood, and for His glory, amen and amen!
© Jan Ross
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