Morning, January 4
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
2 Peter 3:18
"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.