… ¹⁸but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

We have seen that growing in grace takes us on a journey of discovering more and more the depths and expanse of God’s graciousness toward us. The beginning of grace happens at the cross, with a salvation that we do not deserve no matter our efforts to live a good or morally upstanding life. But grace doesn’t just begin there, it also ends there, in the sense that it finds its complete fulfillment there. The cross represents the totality of God’s grace; therefore, growing in grace does not mean gaining more grace, but continually discovering how profound God’s grace to us really is.

Now, it is true that Scripture teaches us that, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 6:20 NKJV). But that does not mean God portions out grace based on the need; that is, the more a person sins the more he or she needs grace. We can’t fall into the wrong thinking that some people need more grace than others—that would tie grace to something in us that merits or de-merits grace. If grace is unmerited (by definition), then it cannot be unmerited. To put it another way, to think I don’t need as much grace as another person is tantamount to saying I have less need for grace—a ridiculous thought.

No! The idea of Romans 6:20 is that the greater the sin, the more the knowledge of the breadth of God’s grace becomes apparent. The murderer does not need more grace to be saved than a person who grows up in a Christian home, attending Sunday school and confessing faith in Christ at a young age. James 2:10 puts a lie to that notion, for all are sinners equally under the judgment of the law.

So, what does that mean for us to grow in grace? As we draw closer to the holiness of God, we gain a growing awareness of the depth of our sinfulness. While salvation involves confessing our sin to God, we don’t realize at our conversion just how thoroughly sin has infected our lives. To be sure, all of our sin is forgiven and cleansed from us. But our awareness of its presence is revealed increasingly over our lifetime. The abundance of God’s grace produces in us a more profound gratitude and appreciation for how much God has forgiven us and blessed us. Our growing awareness of being undeserving positions us to understand just how wonderful His grace is toward us.

This is why Paul so clearly saw his sinfulness before God and also why he championed grace so much. He wrote very poignantly:

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. (1 Tim. 1:15–16)

This trust is not just for Paul; he is an example of this perspective we all should have. In essence, we must be able to say, “I am joining Paul in the same self-assessment; I too, am and continue to be, the foremost of all sinners!” While he speaks of mercy, the concept is the same as what Peter wrote about grace. It is this kind of understanding, which connects to mercy, that we see in the admonition to grow in grace. It comes by increasingly recognizing our sinfulness, which puts God’s grace in a much more and increasingly brilliant light.

Spiritual growth, then, means the continuous unveiling of God’s overwhelming, wonderful attitude toward us. And this appreciation of our hearts is fueled by the growing realization that we have needed and continue to need God’s grace far more than what we discovered at the cross when we first came to the knowledge of salvation. (To be continued….)

My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, continue to flood my soul with the growing knowledge of Your grace. I resolve to not hide my sin from You, for that would hinder me from enjoying the abundance of Your grace.