WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GROW IN GRACE?

Peter admonishes us to "grow in grace"; and then he quickly defines what he means with these words, "and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18). To grow in grace is to have a growing realization of the all-sufficiency of Christ as my Savior. To grow in grace is to have a deepening conviction that I am a poor, vile, sinful wretch and that the Lord Jesus Christ is gloriously suitable to be the Savior of a sinner like me. To grow in grace is to increasingly realize how much I need his precious blood to cleanse me, his righteousness to clothe me, his strength to support me, his advocacy to plead my cause in heaven, and, his grace to preserve me and deliver me from all my enemies. As the Holy Spirit reveals to me my sinfulness and Christ's righteousness, my guilt and Christ's pardon, my emptiness and Christ's fulness, I grow in grace. The more fully I learn, through the gospel of Christ, that I am nothing and Christ is everything, everything I need or desire and everything God requires, everything in earth and everything in heaven, everything for time and everything for eternity, the more fully I grow in grace. To grow in grace is to increasingly trust Christ, look to Christ, and live upon Christ.