By Robin Wiley
Scripture
II Peter 3:17-18
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 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.
Growing up, I think most families have a place in the house, probably near the kitchen like I did, where the physical growth of the children is recorded with pencil marks over the years. When we hear “grow,” many images may come to mind of shoe sizes, school subjects, or work skills. For me, it was a good day when I was marked taller than my older sister. We were and still are very competitive with each other since we are close in age (exactly eleven months apart) and being taller than her gave me a slight edge.
Peter concludes his second letter to early Christians with “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We tend to accept that we can grow in knowledge, but we can easily skip around the idea of growing in grace. The context here is both believers’ hardship and the hope of Christ’s return. When we are faced with hardship, we can look to the certainty of Jesus and his grace. This confidence in him does not freeze or pause us in our actions, but rather it moves us forward to be more active by faith.
Many times trials can distract or discourage our faith. Certainly the challenge we have all faced these past two years (has it really been that long??) with maneuvering our lives around Covid can be tiring and wear us down. If we look to God’s Word – He is using all of this difficulty for our good. Even when we don’t understand everything in Scripture, as Peter comments here about Paul’s writings, we know Jesus and the Scriptures are our stability. The struggle itself is a catalyst for us to cling to Christ, to grow in our dependency upon his grace. Only later will we be able to look back and see the spiritual pencil marks that the Lord is graciously giving to us.
How to show grace to others:
Through your words: Be kind and gentle in what you say and how you say it.
Look for needs and opportunities. simple everyday kindnesses and actions often help in great ways.
Forgive others and ask for forgiveness when you need it.
Extend a little grace to someone this week – because God gives it to us freely, even when we do not deserve it.
Prayer: Father God –you both saved us by grace through faith and sustain us by your grace. Teach us to lean into your sweet grace and to grow in it, for the sake of your name and your Kingdom here on earth. We pray this in Jesus’ name – Amen!