Grow in grace
Never standing still
Peter ends his second letter with a simple, sweeping command: grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is among the last things he writes, a kind of summary of the whole Christian life — keep growing. Not arrive, not plateau, not coast, but grow, continually, in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, for as long as you live.
The two dimensions are worth noting. We are to grow in grace — deeper into the experience and the giving of God's unmerited favor, more gracious in character as we go. And we are to grow in knowledge of Christ — not mere information, but the deepening personal knowing of Jesus himself, the kind of knowledge that comes from a lengthening relationship. Both are meant to keep increasing, with no ceiling.
This sets the lifelong direction of the formed life. There is no point at which we have grown enough, no graduation from discipleship, no summit where we can rest and stop climbing. As long as there is more of Christ to know and more of his grace to grow into — and there always is — there is more growing to do. The mark of a healthy spiritual life is not a level of attainment reached but a direction maintained: always growing, never standing still. Are you still growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ, or have you quietly settled at some plateau?
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
— Peter, in his second letter — 2 Peter 3:18 (WEB)
Keep growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ for life — never settling at a comfortable plateau, since there is always more of him to know.
“Speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ.”
Maturity has a hidden danger: at some comfortable altitude the climb feels finished, and we mistake a plateau for a peak and quietly stop ascending. The interior work is to hear Peter's parting word as a lifelong direction, not a destination — keep growing in grace and in the personal knowing of Christ — and to measure our health by motion rather than by the height already reached. There is no graduation from discipleship while there is still more of him to know, and there always is.
This week, check whether you have settled at a plateau: name an area where you have stopped growing, and take a deliberate step forward in it, pursuing more of God's grace and a deeper knowledge of Christ rather than coasting.
There is a quiet temptation to settle, to coast on yesterday's progress as though the faith had a finish line. But a soul still pressing deeper into the grace and knowledge of Christ never offers up the complacent, stalled discipleship that slow erosion depends on; it keeps climbing, and stays alive.
It is easy, somewhere along the way, to quietly settle — to reach a level of spiritual maturity we are comfortable with and unconsciously stop growing, coasting on what we have already attained. Peter's parting command cuts against this: grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. The Christian life has no graduation, no summit where we may stop climbing.
The direction is meant to be lifelong and the growth twofold: deeper into God's grace, becoming more gracious ourselves, and deeper into the personal knowledge of Jesus that comes from a lengthening relationship. As long as there is more of Christ to know and more grace to grow into — and there always is — there is more growing to do. The mark of a healthy spiritual life is not a level reached but a direction held: always growing, never standing still. Have you quietly settled at a plateau, or are you still growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ?
- Have I quietly settled at a comfortable spiritual plateau?
- Am I still growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ?
- Where have I stopped growing and need to step forward again?
Lord, I settle at comfortable plateaus and coast on what I have attained, as if discipleship had a graduation. Keep me growing in your grace and in the knowledge of Christ all my life, never standing still, always pressing deeper into you. Amen.