Written by Lim Chan Khoon (KKCOC Elder)
At the close of his second epistle, in 2 Peter 3:18, the apostle Peter gives a final charged to all Christians to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The word Grow is translated from the Greek term auxanō which means: to grow, enlarge or increase. Basically, we are told that we should increase our knowledge and understanding of our Lord’s will so that we can better serve Him. In so doing, we will then grow in God’s grace. After all, we get to know things pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3).
In life, we put in much effort to grow our business, money or skill although these things are perishable. Even more we should aspire and be dedicated to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ which will help us to gain entrance into the everlasting kingdom (2 Peter 2:11). Yet, many times, some Christians fail to grow! They started off as young in the faith. They learned some of the basic principles concerning salvation and their relationship with God. The problem is that many Christians did not progress beyond that point and continue to exist today as spiritual babe. The Hebrew writer uses this as the subject of his admonition in Hebrews 5:12-13. This is a good, timely, constructive criticism of all Christians who should have grown up spiritually but have remained immature in the faith.
Why Are Christians Not Growing?
If we are not careful, we can become too distracted by issues of life like our jobs, family issues, hobbies, etc… (2 Timothy 3:1-4) and fail to set aside time for personal spiritual growth – time for Bible study, prayer, worship, and fellowship with those of like-minded faith. Jesus shares with us some of these same reasons for failure of spiritual growth in His “Parable of the Sower” found in Matthew 13:18 – 23.
Another reason why many fail to grow can be attributed to complacency. This where we believe that we have reached the state in which growth is no longer necessary or where our current faith is sufficient for us to inherit eternal life. We become content, satisfied with our own level of faith and stop studying our scriptures, not keen in attending meeting or serving. Instead of being diligent to grow in Christ (2 Peter 1:5,10) we focus on increasing earthly things. We must take heed of Christ warning to a lukewarm church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:16-17) and a dead church in Sardis (Revelation 3:1-3).
Making Efforts to Grow
Christians need to turn aside from all the excuses they have made for their continued spiritual immaturity or stagnancy and make effort, to grow in the faith. Let us dedicate ourselves to daily study of God’s word (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Timothy 2:15), prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18), attending meeting (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:24-25), and service to our Maker (Matthew 20:26-27; Joshua 24:15). We need to emulate the attitude of the apostle Paul as he expressed it in Philippians 3:12 – 14:
- He did not become complacent; as he states, “not that I have already achieved or am already perfect,” and “I do not consider myself to have grasped it yet.”
- He is not distracted from his goal – “I press toward the goal”
He saw and understood the need for spiritual growth. Like Paul, let us continue to grow our faith, never lose sight of our goal and look forward to our eternal home in heaven (2 Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 12:1-2).
We urge members to support & response to programmes organised by the Education Ministry which aim at helping us to be better equip to teach, to serve at the Lord’s table and grow in the knowledge of our Lord. Putting Christian graces into practice by serving in the church & and reaching out to one another under BMA ministry.
May God bless our effort to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Wishing you a God Blessed New Year!