Max and Grace

Max and Grace

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” I Peter 2:2

From encouragements in the Word of God to the message of success books, we are challenged to keep growing, no matter what age we are and no matter what we have attained to. The book of II Peter, the last recorded words of one of the pillars of the church, closes with a call to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”, to a continual lifelong pursuit of growth in our understanding of the Lord and His ways. I’ve been amazed lately, as I read scriptures that I’ve read many times over, at how the Lord is revealing more and more, taking me deeper and deeper. There is more in God and in life for each of us to discover if we’ll make the effort.

Maxwell wrote “God never puts anyone in a place too small to grow”. Dodds wrote “It is not the fast tempo of modern life that kills, but the boredom, a lack of strong interest, and the failure to grow that destroys”. And that lines up with the oft repeated adage that “when we stop growing, we stop living”. The Roman scholar Cato began to study Greek when he was over 80 years of age.

When he was asked why he was tackling such a difficult task at his age, he responded “It’s the earliest age I have left”. But Cato’s example is more important than it looks on the surface. Unless we try to do something beyond what we have already mastered, we will never grow. And that applies to both spiritual and natural pursuits, there is always room to grow.

Yesterday, I visited my new nephew and niece in Binghamton, New York. Max and Grace are twins, born last Tuesday, both weighing under 5 lbs, the smallest babies I have ever seen. Max got hungry during the visit and it made me think of the verse above that calls us to be like newborn babies. He may be tiny but his lungs work just fine and his message of “Feed Me Now!!!” was loud and clear. If we could have the same desire, the same hunger level as Max, the same craving for more of God, we would see growth in every area of our lives.

Let’s stop making excuses, stop putting if off and make the commitment to grow in every area of our life.


God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church