Continue to Grow in Grace

This year has certainly been a year of "Grace." It seems I run into it every now and again. When I am in need of a reminder of grace, God places it clearly in my pathway.

The evening before my very first of four small study groups I was feeling a bit nervous. When I signed up for all of these classes I had felt very confident and I felt that God was leading me. But about a week before the start of the first group beginning a few things happened that caused a lot of anxiety and fear to sprout in my soul. After a conversation with a godly friend, I had come to understand that what I was feeling was an attack.

 Once I realized that, I felt a lot better. So the night before this class was to begin and I was feeling a bit nervous- I shouldn't be surprised at all that God led me to notice what Bible verse was on my calendar on the wall.

I know it is hard to see in the photo - but the verse is 2 Peter 3:18 "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."

I looked up the verse in my Bible Commentary (which are now located right next to my desk!) and this is what I found:

"Grace is one of the spheres in which the Christian is to grow; he is to become still more firmly established in a personal experience of Christ's own gracious kindness."

Under the word Grow in the verse - my commentary says:

"The tense implies 'keep on growing.' Peter's readers had already made tremendous strides in conduct, but they were not to be satisfied. They were to continue their spiritual growth."

It goes on to say that not only will we be growing on this earth but that growth will continue when Jesus comes to take us to heaven. "The Christian can look forward to endless growth in character and in understanding the will and ways of God. There will ever be new worlds of mind and spirit for him to conquer, new heights to climb, new doors of adventure and opportunity to open."

I looked up 2 Peter 3:18 in several of my Bibles and love how one of my Bibles says "Continue to grow in grace." As soon as I read the verse I knew that these classes that I had signed up for would certainly help me to continue to grow in grace.