“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)
You anticipate the upcoming event with much excitement, the moment arrives, and you relish in it, then it is gone, over with, a part of the past, and you are left with nothing but a memory. You will die with nothing but memories. You are taking nothing with you, no matter your final destination, heaven or hell.
You may have been used by the Holy Spirit as the means to call others to Christ, and will indeed meet them in your eternal home, but it is not because of you that they are there, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44) No one grows in the knowledge of the Lord unless He imparts that knowledge of Himself to them, unless God shows you truth, you will never know truth.
“Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” (Prov. 2:5)
The clause at the beginning of that verse is what I believe most who claim Christ as Lord today have completely forsaken, they have no fear of God, there is no deep reverence of His Holy name, they do not speak of Him in awe and great humility, they do not see Him nor respect Him as Sovereign. Think on this verse, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31) Who is that verse for, saved or wicked, the unrepentant or the righteous? I know who most Christians would say it’s for, not them, but those who deny that Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not for those who make sure to set an hour or so on Sunday morning aside for Him.
Love, all encompassing love, love without reservation or deeds and thoughts that are done for His glory and Holy name.
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” (Gal. 5:13) You can read your Bible all day long, you can be polite and kind to everyone you meet, never raising your voice, fitting in to the society around you as to never offend anyone, helping out at that building with a cross in it somewhere, and never once grow in His grace and knowledge.
There are many who profess Christ as Lord that never speak His name in public, yet claim to be one of His, there are those that sing the songs during that Sunday morning service with their voices, but their hearts are set on the plans for that day, who do not even pick up the Word of God all week long but profess to know Him. Love that is not expressed in some form of continual action is not love, it is an emotion of the heart, but “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9)
Most Evangelical churches have become nothing more than a community clubhouse, a place where those who have been deemed as like-minded are accepted, and those who are not are tolerated, at least for a time. The membership dues are adhering to the thought processes of what is taught there, not what the Word of God says, but to what the pastor and the “elder members” profess is truth, not what the Scriptures say. There is no fear of God before their eyes, yet they profess to know the Lord personally, they are not sent out into the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ but are called to the assembling of themselves together once a week, to fulfill the requirement that they call worship.
His words do not burn in their bones.
You have met them, they may sit right beside you each Sunday morning, perhaps this short poorly written letter has revealed to you that you are the person that is being spoken of here. There is one simple truth to growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord that most who say they serve Christ completely miss, not only do you need to show that to the world around you, you need to want to grow, and it must be expressed outside of that building that calls itself a church.
