EDUCATED GRACE

Wednesday 23 October

May grace (God’s favour) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:2 (AMPC)

But grow in grace (undeserved favour, spiritual strength) and recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honour, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)! 2 Peter 3:18 (AMPC)

Have you ever played the board game monopoly? There is a special card that you can acquire that prevents you from going to jail and temporarily missing out on participating in the game. A lot of Christians look at grace that way; like it’s somehow some sort of get out of jail card free and still scrape into the pearly gates type deal. This perspective on grace is limiting at best and cheapening at worst.

Like many things as a believer, it is vital that we have a working knowledge of spiritual realities in order to walk in the light of them and grace is no exception. Apostle Peter by the Spirit touches on an important key factor in taking advantage of the ultimate grace: salvation and all that it includes in Christ.

In both scriptures above Peter highlights the necessity for knowledge. Not just any knowledge but a particular kind. We call this knowledge ‘epignosis’ in Greek. It is full, exact, precise knowledge, which is how grace is multiplied in our lives. The other thing about epignosis is that it is knowledge where the knower and what is known become one. In other words, there is a vital, working relationship between you and the knowledge.

‘Grow in grace’ means to take advantage of the grace. For example if you didn’t know that healing was a benefit of your salvation then you wouldn’t know how to relate with it, to activate it. The Lord wants us to learn about all the blessings of our salvation so we can take advantage of them by relating with them. This is the result of epignosis.

The truth is, we can be in the kingdom but not enjoying all of our rights and privileges because we don’t know what they are or how to operate the principles to make them work, or both. In 2 Peter 3:18 it says to grow ‘in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.’ Again, it shows us that there is a knowledge of the message of grace itself that we need to intentionally grow in. There is no such thing as accidental growth in the Body of Christ. We grow on purpose.

When you become a seeker of truth the Spirit of truth will lead and guide you into the reality of that truth. If we keep the message of Christ as the centre of our lives, all other distractions will fall away. Don’t walk through this world illiterate in the Word of His grace. Train your spirit in the Word and find those who will explain the message of Christ devoid of the accusation of the law. Multiply grace through knowledge. Get grace educated.

APPLICATION

Make up your mind that you are going to keep growing in the word and in the knowledge of God so that grace and peace can be multiplied in your life in an ever increasing measure.