The Alpha of Growth

UV 3044/10000 The Alpha of Growth
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen
2 Peter 3 v 18

Our growth is likened in scriptures to how lilies grow in beauty and tenderness. The lilies of the valley, Jesus pointed out, grow not to due to human efforts but purely by the grace of God. When we submit all aspects of our lives to the Lord, we grow like lilies in grace and by grace. In terms of stature, we are to grow to be like the cedars of Lebanon. Our root, namely our faith in the good root- Jesus should be strong and spread out so that it dips into the river of the Word to draw strength and nourishment from it. The Lord will send daily the dew of His compassion and grace to enable us to grow in this manner. We are to grow in every sense into the headship or lordship of Jesus so that we are not barren or fruitless in any aspect of our walk or life in Him. He has prepared us to do all kinds of good works classified by Charles Spurgeon as - works in obedience to the Word, works of faith and love and common work of every day life.

As we imbibe the pure word of God, we grow in the knowledge of Jesus both as Lord and as Saviour. Our faith grows even as we increase in our knowledge of Him, knowledge of His complete knowledge, complete power and complete love for us. As we increase in faith, the openings for grace to flow in our lives too expand. The Lord’s glory and power will be visible or made manifest in the many challenges of our lives. Physically, it is said that children stop growing physically by the age of eighteen. As we are ever children of God in Christ, there is no deadline or limit to our growth of our faith and grace. As children of God, we have the seven fold anointing of Jesus- the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of knowledge, of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might and of the fear of the Lord. We are to grow in terms of all aspects of this seven fold anointing of Jesus.

Our fruitfulness increases in proportion to the increase in our knowledge of Christ- His love as Saviour, His power as Lord. We increase in the fruit of the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. All these together constitute spiritual wisdom. When we grow in spiritual wisdom, we grow in grace and truth. Our goal is to grow to the very stature of Christ who is absolutely full of grace and truth. The purpose of such growth is not for our personal gratification but to declare and establish or prove the greatness of God. We also need to be aware that there are forces and factors of this world around that attempt to stunt or block our growth in grace and truth and so we need to take pre-emptive action. The Word gives us enough precautions and forewarnings about the blocks to our growth and fruitfulness.