In Adam, life was lost,
in JESUS CHRIST, life is restored to all who receive HIM.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned: ... That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by JESUS CHRIST our
LORD." Death dies, life lives, life grows!
There is no such thing as growth-less life ... it is designed of its very nature to grow.
Stunted growth in the Christian's life is directly attributable
to diet. What vanity to feed the new man of redemption the
junk food of the flesh. Stay on the breast of the Bible,
and grow, is the consistent admonition of Scripture.
"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye
may grow thereby:" Nurse yourself to growth in grace, growth in
knowledge. JESUS beckoned HIS own disciples:
"come and dine" and yet what
a tragic number of spiritual runts there are in the Family!
And oh my, the sickening sight of spiritual anorexics in the
churches, dying on the vine of a self imposed Biblical famine. Persist in a
hunger strike long enough and GOD will stop sending the WAITER
by to check on you. "Behold, the
days come, saith the LORD GOD, that I will send a famine in the
land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the LORD:"
In grace, in knowledge
... HE is the vine, we are the branches. It is our
perennial call and duty as branches of our LORD and SAVIOUR to
do what branches do, so branch out. HE commands us grow
that we might go and pollinate the tender shoots of other plants
of GOD. HE commands us grow that we might go on to
maturity, dropping the seeds of new life into the soil prepared
of HIM (c.f. Matthew 13:18-23). There is a Divine
tension presented here: Grace apart from knowledge is
indiscriminate, ... sloppy agape. Knowledge apart from
grace is abrasive, heartless.
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in
knowledge and in all judgment;"
Eat a balanced, SPIRIT
filled diet and grow, our LORD
did:
"And
JESUS increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favour with GOD and man."