06.20. Growth

Growth
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
2 Peter 3:18

’Tis His. Yes, yes; no other sound
Could move my heart like this;
The Voice of Him that earlier bound
Through grace that heart to His.

In other accents now, ’tis true,
Than once my spirit woke
To life and peace, through which it grew
Under His gracious yoke.

Yes! then ’twas faith — Thy Word; but now
Thyself my soul draw’st nigh;
My soul with nearer thoughts to bow
Of brighter worlds on high.

Twentieth Week The great secret of growth is looking up to the Lord as gracious.

It is astonishing what progress a soul sometimes makes in a time of sorrow. It has been much more with God; for, indeed, that alone makes us make progress. There is much more confidence, quietness, absence of the moving of the will — much more . . . dependence on Him, more intimacy with Him and independence of circumstances — a great deal less between us and Him — and then all the blessedness that is in Him comes to act upon the soul and reflect in it; and, oh, how sweet that is! What a difference it does make in the Christian, who, perhaps, was blameless in his walk in general previously.

If we are "to grow by the sincere milk of the word" . . . we need the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and in order to this there must be the exercising of ourselves unto godliness — the "laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings," so that the Holy Spirit be not grieved. Has the Christian envy, guile, hypocrisies, allowed to work in his heart? There can be no growth in the true knowledge of the things of God.

What is called the higher christian life is only the getting out of Romans 7:1-25 into Romans 6:1-23 and Romans 8:1-39 — a very real thing, and that which the great body of teachers would have you content without. In the measure in which our spiritual position is raised, so, of course, do the difficulties and exercises of heart assume a character which requires greater experience and greater power. Our spiritual advance introduces us necessarily into them; but God is faithful not to suffer us to be tempted above that we are able.

Those who dwell in spirit in the heavenly country take the tone of it, and grow in the things wherein they find themselves. As you grow in . . . knowledge of Him a joy grows deeper than that of first conversion. I have known Christ, more or less, between thirty and forty years, and I can say that I have ten thousand times more joy now than I had at first. It is a deeper, calmer joy. The water rushing down from a hill is beautiful to look at, and makes most noise; but you will find that the water that runs in the plain is deeper, calmer, more fructifying.

(1 John 2:12-15.) We . . . find three classes of Christians: fathers, young men, and babes. He (John) addresses them each twice. . . . That which characterises fathers in Christ is that they have known Him who is from the beginning, that is Christ. This is all that he has to say about them. All had resulted in that. He only repeats the same thing again when, changing his form of expression, he begins anew with these three classes. The fathers have known Christ. . . . They are not occupied with experience — that would be being occupied with self, with one’s own heart. All that has passed away and Christ alone remains as our portion, unmingled with aught besides.