The apostle Peter exhorts his audience to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Elsewhere, the apostle Paul instructs Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:1). How then are we to grow and be strong in grace, yet we have already seen that God’s grace is this free gift that we receive? The short answer is that we ought to appropriate God’s grace through the means that He has ordained. The means that God has ordained are ordinary means.

Two of the most crucial means of grace are God’s word and prayer. In Psalm 119:9-11, we see that the young man keeps himself pure by living according to God’s word and hiding it in his heart. When Jesus prayed for the disciples, He asked the Father to sanctify them by the truth, which is His Word (John 17:17). While rebuking the disciples for not keeping watch with Him at the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told them to watch and pray that they may not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41). We must be a people of the Word and a people who pray. The other means of grace include the fellowship of believers, which help us to spur one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). These and others are what God has ordained as the means through which His grace is worked out in our lives. Therefore, we grow and are strong in the grace that is in Christ by practising these things.

1. Is there any other means of grace that you can think of?

2. How will today’s devotion affect your faith and life?