GRACE AND PEACE MULTIPLIED
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” II Peter 1:2
True grace and peace are found only in Jesus Christ. God’s gracious gift – His unmerited favor – is revealed in, through, and because of Jesus Christ. We are saved, forgiven, redeemed, justified, and eternally secure through the wonderful grace of God. Because of His grace and the application of that grace to our lives, we have found peace. We have peace with God because our enmity (that hostility resulting from our sin) has been removed through the sacrifice of Christ. We have been reconciled to God through His blood. We have peace in our hearts, where once we were filled with conflict and confusion. Our guilt has been replaced with assurance of forgiveness. Our desperate search for meaning and purpose has been satisfied as we have found “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) in the person of Jesus Christ. Thank God for the gift of His grace and peace revealed to us and in us as a result of our salvation.
In the Word of God, Peter declares that grace and peace can be “multiplied.” God’s grace and peace can increase, or abound, in us. As our needs increase, His grace and peace will increase. There is no exhausting God’s supply of grace and peace. We appreciate the revelation of His grace and peace at the time of our conversion, but our need for grace and peace does not end there. We still need His grace and peace to be manifested to us, in us, and for us. How was it that we were first introduced to this marvelous grace and peace? It was by our introduction to Jesus Christ. We found this grace and peace in our newfound knowledge of the Savior.
According to the Scripture, grace and peace will be multiplied through the “knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” The more we get to know the Lord, the more we will find this vast reservoir of grace and peace. This knowledge is not just intellectual, but it is also experiential. It is not just theoretical, but it is also practical. We get to know Him by spending time with Him in prayer and by reading the Bible. The more we get to know Him, the more we find that His resources are always greater than our needs. As long as we are in this world of sin, we will stand in need of God’s grace and peace, and they are given to us in abounding and multiplying measure.