Never Stop Growing
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18
As individuals and as a body of believers, we must never stop growing. Lori Hatcher, a contributing author for All God’s Creatures does a great job of bringing this message home.
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When we first visited Bee City Zoo in South Carolina, six-year-old Lauren was fascinated by the koi swimming lazily in a pool at the middle of the complex. She was particularly drawn to a white fish with a distinctive orange spot on top of its head. She named him Sunny and declared him to be “the most beauteous fish in the pond.”
Almost a year passed before we visited the zoo again, but Lauren hadn’t forgotten Sunny. As soon as we arrived, she begged to go to the fishpond. I held my breath as she peered over the side, looking for her favorite fish. There he was in all his glory.
“Hello, Sunny,” she said with the familiarity friendship brings. “You’re bigger than when I saw you last. I am too. I guess we’ve both been growing.” As I stood in the background listening to her one-sided conversation, I couldn’t help but smile.
I thought of Lauren and Sunny when I read 2 Peter 3:18. The apostle Peter knew growth was a sign of spiritual health. If believers didn’t make the effort to grow and mature, their spiritual lives would be stunted. This is why he encouraged them to “grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Like physical growth, spiritual growth depends on good food (reading the Bible and listening to sermons and other grounded teachings), exercise (working out our faith by serving), and rest (entrusting our burdens to God). If Christians practice those disciplines, we’ll grow healthy and strong. This is what Peter hoped for.
I can almost imagine what he said when he was reunited with his fellow believers: “Hello, church. You’re bigger than when I saw you last. I am too. I guess we’ve both grown.”
And in the background, God smiled.
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Whatever happens, just keep growing!
Heavenly Father, thank You for the life lessons and spiritual nuggets we can claim from nature. Help us to grow every day to be more like You. AMEN.