Spurgeon: January AM
* 01/04/AM
"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.