Growing In God's Grace

Philippians 1:6 (New International Version)
6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Do you believe God will grow you in Christ? Kuna Nazarene's Purpose Statement is: "To Love People and Encourage Growth, no Matter Their Season of Life or Spiritual Depth." Paul said to the local church in Corinth in reference to the Gospel of Jesus Christ: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow (1 Cor. 3:6). God is faithful and He grows all believers in Christ. Sometimes we get our eyes off of God and the Devil distracts us by tempting us to focus on our behavior that reveals our present immaturity in our relationship with Christ, and we doubt our "new creation" relationship with God. God is faithful, and will complete us. God uses our"immature" behavior for good in our lives to show us our need to turn back to Him (repentance) and "grow" in Christ's character. This experience in our lives is humbling and often painful, but results in maturity and growth that is enabled by God's patience and grace. As Gordon Fee states: "Paul understand Christian ethics in terms of "becoming what you are" (NICNT, 17). We are "already... not yet". What we are experiencing right now in life is called growing in God's grace. Paul reminds us that God loves us and we are the object of His love, when he writes: "4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails"(1 Cor. 13). God will grow us!

Love, Pastor Eric