You Need a Place to Grow
-2 Peter 3:18
The church is a place of transformation. God in Jesus Christ loves us way too much to leave us where we are. As we continue to encounter God’s grace in our lives we will grow
closer and closer to Him. As we delve deeper into the love and grace of Jesus Christ we cannot help but be changed. The love of God in the midst of this spiritual family moves and challenges us to move forward as His disciples always changing, always growing. The church is not a place for status quo. There is no limit to the changes that God can do through the family if we do not set up barriers. This is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unlike the world it has no limits.
We have a great example of how we can grow in our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus spent time in prayer, solitude, and study. We read in the Bible that, “Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52) and that “He learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). What a mystery that our sinless Savior grew in grace and learned to obey God!Jesus learned and grew in the context of his relationship of abiding in the Father’s love. His time with God was the most important thing to him – not his ministry to others. Many Bible students miss this! Yet, there are many examples in the Bible of the centrality of Jesus’ solitude and silence with the Father.
It was Jesus’ rich life of quiet prayer and tender intimacy with God that was the source of his love, wisdom, and power. His ministry was an overflow of his oneness with the Father. This week we will examine some of the examples we have of Jesus’ relationship with his Father.
