Grow in grace and knowledge

At Resurrection we have chosen a set of goals (that you can see—or review—at https://resurrection.church/about-resurrection/vision2030/). Basic to all of them is to “deepen the spiritual vitality of all Resurrection members.” Jesus said God calls us to be “the light of the world,” (cf. Matthew 5:14-16), through whom God’s light brightens the dark, hurting places around us. We always have room for further growth in doing that. Early in the movie Black Panther, new king T’Challa’s brilliant half-sister Shuri tells him she wants to show him how she’s improved the Black Panther suit. He tells her his suit works fine. Shuri insists: “Just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.” The apostle Peter had a similar outlook on spiritual life. Grace “works,” but that means it provides a climate of love and acceptance in which we keep growing, not an excuse for indifference about areas where we need to grow.

• Scholar William Barclay wrote, “The Christian must daily experience the wonder of grace, and daily grow in the gifts which grace can bring; and he must daily enter more and more deeply into the wonder which is in Jesus Christ.” * That’s a lot of “dailies”! But what food program says eating once a week will make you strong? What exercise plan says training once a week is fine? How do you choose to “grow in grace” every day? “Growing in grace” is not just cerebral. “It is impossible to stand still as a Christian, for we all have an in-built tendency to push Jesus Christ to the back of our minds. The only remedy is to make deliberate, constant and frequent efforts to bring him to the front…. We need to know more about him, to be sure; but we also grow in that knowledge by obeying him, by treating his promises as genuine promises of the Savior, and his commands as genuine commands of the Lord.” ** In what ways are you growing in trusting and obeying what you know about Jesus?