“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” (2Peter 3:18)
This was Peter’s farewell at the end of his letter. He gives the believers some last words ending with the verse above. Grace is God’s undeserved favor. It’s not based on our behavior, but on God’s Goodness and unconditional love for us. It is by grace that we are saved. It is God’s undeserved favor on us that He accepts our repentance and receives us into His family because of Jesus.
Peter instructs us to grow in grace. The word “grow” that he uses means increase. We are to increase in God’s grace. If it's favor from God, doesn’t depend on our behavior and is unearned, how can we increase in it? John Gill a commentator of the Bible says we need to use God’s grace to grow in it. For example, if we receive as a gift a guitar and set it aside never using it, we will never grow in learning how to use it. But if we make an effort every day to learn to use it, after a time we will be proficient in playing the guitar. The favor of God operates in a similar way. By God’s grace we have been given many gifts. We cannot just ignore those gifts. They are given to us because of grace, God’s undeserved favor.
We all exercised our faith when we believed in Jesus. And our faith grows as we continue to trust His Promises and rely on Him for His continued grace in our lives in the many difficult situations and circumstances that arise in our lives. We increase in hope as we exercise our faith, hoping for what we desire that which we don’t see yet. “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1) Our peace increases as we see God work in our lives. We grow in wisdom, knowledge and understanding of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as we study God’s Word daily, the Holy Spirit guides us and teaches us. This is God’s grace, God working in us and teaching us.
We are given many more gifts in which we are to grow. “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all. The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person He gives the power to heal. The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person He gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another He gives the ability to explain what is said.” (1Corinthians 12:4-10) These are known as the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can choose to grow in these gifts and glorify God or ignore them leaving a gap in the absence of the gift. We can grow in the grace of God’s gift by studying our gift and exercising that gift as God leads.
As we study and participate in the life of the church using the grace God has given us, we grow in grace; the God kind of faith, hope, peace and love. “Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases Him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10) The beautiful thing is that we can continue to grow. God’s grace doesn’t have a limit. As imperfect beings, we put limits on God. But God is unlimited in His grace.
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