The Story:Peter began his second epistle emphasizing the need to grow in the Lord. He ends it at the same place. Others may twist and wrest the Scriptures and boast in having special insights about this, that, or something else. Our task is to grow, and growing means knowing Jesus Christ more fully and more intimately, increasing each day in the reality of eternal life (Jn. 17.3). “Knowledge” here is not simply head knowledge – a merely intellectual accomplishment. It is a relationship in which the reality of Jesus increasingly becomes the reality which is us (2 Cor. 3.12-18). We can know that we’re growing in the knowledge of Christ when we are becoming more like Him in every respect. Then He gets the glory, not us. This, indeed, is the end of all our hopes in the Christian life: to know Christ in His glory and to make His glory known.

The Structure:There is always room for us to grow, as individual believers and as congregations of the Lord’s people. We must not be “sluggish” about this (Heb. 6.12); instead, growing in Christ and seeking to glorify Him must occupy all our waking moments, so that, in every area of our lives, we are learning how and finding the power to live for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10.31).

How do you determine the state of your growth in Christ at any given time? When was the last time you adjusted your effort at growing in the Lord?

Each week’s studies in our Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For this week’s study, “Until He Comes: 2 Peter 3.11-18,” simply click here.

T. M. Moore

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.