"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (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.
(C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, Morning, January 4)
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