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The Necessity of Constant Growth in Grace, October 28
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
things, ye shall never fall.
2 Peter 1:10
.
The work of transformation from unholiness to holiness is a continuous one.
Day by day God labors for man’s sanctification, and man is to cooperate with
Him, putting forth persevering efforts in the cultivation of right habits. He is to
add grace to grace; and as he thus works on the plan of addition, God works for
him on the plan of multiplication. Our Saviour is always ready to hear and answer
the prayer of the contrite heart, and grace and peace are multiplied to His faithful
ones. Gladly He grants them the blessings they need in their struggle against the
evils that beset them.
There are those who attempt to ascend the ladder of Christian progress; but
as they advance they begin to put their trust in the power of man, and soon lose
sight of Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their faith. The result is failure—the loss
of all that has been gained. Sad indeed is the condition of those who, becoming
weary of the way, allow the enemy of souls to rob them of the Christian graces
that have been developing in their hearts and lives. “He that lacketh these things,”
declares the apostle, “is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he
was purged from his old sins.”
The apostle Peter had had a long experience in the things of God. His faith in
God’s power to save had strengthened with the years, until he had proved beyond
question that there is no possibility of failure before the one who, advancing by
faith, ascends round by round, ever upward and onward, to the topmost round of
the ladder that reaches even to the portals of heaven.
For many years Peter had been urging upon the believers the necessity of a
constant growth in grace and in a knowledge of the truth; and now, knowing that
soon he would be called to suffer martyrdom for his faith, he once more drew
attention to the precious privileges within the reach of every believer. In the full
assurance of his faith the aged disciple exhorted his brethren to steadfastness of
purpose in the Christian life. “Give diligence,” he pleaded, “to make your calling
and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Precious assurance! Glorious is the hope before the believer as he advances
by faith toward the heights of Christian perfection!—
The Acts of the Apostles,
532, 533
.
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