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grace is for growing

2 Peter 3:14-18

2 Peter 3:14 Therefore, cared for ones, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found spotless and blameless in his sight, at peace.
2 Peter 3:15 Also, think about how our Lord is patiently waiting to deliver us, just as our brother Paul (whom we also care for) has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.
2 Peter 3:16 He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they do with the rest of the Scriptures.
2 Peter 3:17 Therefore, cared for ones, since you know this in advance, protect yourselves, so that you are not led away by the error of unprincipled people and fall from your own firm position.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and into that permanent day.

grace is for growing

Paul championed the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace. But Paul also encountered those who assumed that grace from God meant that sanctification didn’t matter. They would quote Paul in reference to the completed work of justification, but ignore what he said about perseverance. Peter warned against such an approach.

Salvation is not like buying a plane ticket and passively waiting in the terminal for the plane to arrive. But, even using that simile, we can see what Peter is talking about here. The Lord is piloting the plane. The pilot is actively flying the plane to the terminal. A pilot might say “these people have already bought their tickets, so they are secure. If he thought that way, he might not fly the plane at all. In that case, none of the passengers would get to their destination. Fortunately, the pilot does not act that way. He actively flies the plane to the terminal, so that the passenges can embark.

Peter tells his readers to do their part while The Lord is doing his. We are to “make every effort to be found spotless and blameless in his sight, at peace.” That is not passive; it is active. Grace is not for staying the same. Grace is for growing.