December 6, 2023 

Today's Reading: 

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 14.1-23; 2 Peter 3.1-18

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Grow in grace and grow in knowledge. These are both gifts from God who wants to have a relationship with you.  It is God’s desire for you to know Him, and He’s done everything for that to happen.  Even after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, God was determined not to write them or us off. He continued to do everything, to pave the way, to restore that intimate relationship with Him that was lost.  

This is what the angels were waiting for. This is what the prophets promised and foretold. This is what John the Baptizer was sent to prepare. This is why God became man; this is why Jesus was born. He was born for you, to bring you back into a loving, secure relationship with God that will stand the test of time and even withstand our sinfulness. It required a sinless life; it required an atoning death, and Jesus’ empty tomb declares He has done it.  

That’s the grace of God. The giving of Himself that you might be brought back to Him. That’s the grace we grow in, being connected to a God who has done everything and continues to do everything to keep us connected to Him.  God continues to give Himself to us that we may grow in grace and knowledge of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He opens our minds to understand the Scriptures; how the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise again from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name (Luke 24:46).  This is Christian growth – that we grow in our realization of how much we need forgiveness, and we grow in our dependence upon all the ways God delivers His forgiveness to us as a gift all because of Jesus.  

We grow in grace knowing we have a gracious God who loves us, who is for us, who comes to us and makes Himself known to us because He desires us to know Him – just as you are.  Faith can’t help but want to come to Him, to know God, to walk with Him and to trust Him daily with our lives.  And yes, even faith is a gift from God – the soil in which we grow in grace and knowledge of our beloved Savior, Jesus.  To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.