Growth:

Grow in the grace and knowledge

Of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

(Second Peter 3:18)

I’ve been thinking about growth. My growth. There’s a certain sadness about how my best ball is behind me. I’ll never shoot better baskets, or strike a better golf ball. My best game does not await me—it’s back there somewhere.

I thought about it last week while watching our grandchildren play basketball—the beauty of their movements and the development of their game. They keep getting better and better. That must be what Solomon had in mind when he tells us to “enjoy our youth while we have it, before the days of trouble come” (Ecc 11&12). Youth is beautiful. Now I get what my dad meant when he would say, “It’s a shame to waste youth on youth.”

There’s a danger, in our latter life, of becoming cynical and gloomy. In short, to lose heart. So, this morning, I listened again to the Apostle’s encouragement “not to lose heart. For even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day” (2Cor 4:16).

I’m starting to feel better already. There’s plenty of room in one’s big roomy young soul to grow day by day “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pt 3:18).

Two questions come to mind: 1) How does one grow inwardly day by day? And, 2) What difference, in my life, would such inward growth make? “Let people observe your progress” (1Tm 4:15), writes the Apostle. Inward progress and growth is observable—something folks notice.

Back to our grandchildren’s basketball games last week. I noticed how their game is improving day by day. They are moving the ball better. They are shooting better. They are beginning to understand some of the subtle nuances of the game like setting screens, moving without the ball, and filling the lanes. Could one notice spiritual progress “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pt 3:18)? What would such inner spiritual growth look like?

Maybe one would notice he’s becoming more and more gracious—not so cynical. And, maybe one would observe that Christ still fascinates him—he’s not bored with the gospel.