But grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ!

The devotional reading for this morning was from 2 Peter 3, the first half of verse 18:

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There are many of these admonishments in the epistles that have often been very dear to my heart, since I find that they are filled - even in their brevity - with many Gospel truths that often escape us. This one is no exception.

Spurgeon, in commenting on this text for the morning devotional reading, says the following:

"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 heart 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. [...] 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."

I believe that this is the flipside of the coin that I tried to look at in July (here and here). It's not an easy coin for us to examine, to be sure, but it is a necessary one. On the one side we find an exhortation to fight against sin, as in the words of John Piper:

"The distinguishing mark of saving faith is not perfection. [...] The mark of faith is that I fight. I fight anything that dims my sight of Jesus as my glorious Savior."

On the other side we find a calling to seek after Christ, to know Him more today than we did yesterday, and more tomorrow than we do today. This is why the regenerated believer should seek to fight against sin: not in an attempt to justify himself, but as a means of growing closer to his Savior. We die to ourselves daily so that, daily, we might be able to love Christ more fully.

This is absolutely essential to the Christian life! Our own human attempts at holiness will not gain us anything before the judgment seat of the Almighty God (John 6:63), for the Law was not meant to save, but to point us to a Savior (Romans 5:20-21). Our right living does not justify us before a perfectly just God, for it is impossible for man to be holy in His sight on the basis of his own righteousness. Christ is righteous; we don't have to be...

...but! This striving for holiness is a mark of true regeneration, not because we sons and daughters are holier-than-thou legalists... but because it is sin which keeps us from growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior! This is why we should strive to keep God's commandments, and to exhort others to do the same, not in an attempt to polish our rusty exterior to pass it off as a shiny one, but in order to throw off all that might keep us from from running our race (Hebrews 12:1).

And this distinguishes the sons and daughters of God, for the world can try to appear holy through means of dressing up outward appearances, but only the Spirit of God can give the desire to know the Son more fully by turning from sin, and to Himself, the One who has already paid its penalty. And this can be a great encouragement to us in times of darkness, failure, and holy conviction. We will sin, it is inevitable. But when we sin, let's embrace God's loving rebuke, mourn the sinfulness of our hearts, and turn from our ways, all the while relishing in the full knowledge that it was never our own holiness which ever justified us in the first place. And let us be grateful for the fact that, even when we sin, the desire to turn from our sin, to be made whole, to know Christ more fully, is, itself, a wonderful priceless gift from the Author and Finisher of our faith.