2 Peter 3.18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
In the kingdom of God we are either teaching a lesson, learning a lesson, or functioning as the object whereby a lesson will be taught.
Life in Christ is about the process of continuous growth and transformation. When we first become Christians, we are given new life. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” Paul wrote to the Corinthians. “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5.17).
Sadly, some Christians fail to grow. They get saved and experience an initial burst of change in their life, but then hit a plateau and settle into spiritual mediocrity. This could be described as “stuck on salvation.”
When people are stuck, they do not progressively grow deeper in Christ. They do not progressively get better in their relationships. They do not progressively get better at their job. They do not progressively get wiser in the way they live. There is very little observable transformation taking place. They are “stuck on salvation.”
It is, of course, a terribly self-centered version of Christianity. The book of James speaks to this self-oriented mindset: “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep,” he writes. “Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom” (James 4.7-9).
His point is that there is something profoundly wrong when Christians are happy and laughing while they are living self-centered, worldly lives. One gets the sense that James finds it deeply offensive.
To be a follower of Jesus and not growing is a contradiction. To fail to grow is to grieve the Spirit of God who indwells us; to fail to grow is to resist the new life we have been given. The Lord did not redeem us to be stuck on salvation. Growth and change may at times be challenging and difficult, but nothing in life is more painful as staying stuck where you don’t belong.
Continuous learning is at the heart of life in Christ. Some may resist, but one way or another, God will find a way to teach and instruct. Again, in the kingdom of God we are either teaching a lesson, learning a lesson, or functioning as the object whereby a lesson will be taught.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3.18)
Trust God, do the work, and grow in grace.
