Going and Growing

Of David it is said that he “went on going and growing” (Marginal reading, 2 Sam. 5:10).

The Lord God of hosts was with him. He was progressing in the establishment of his kingdom. His enemies were being laid low by his armies. The well-being of his people was being assured, prosperity was marking his rule. He was going on and growing.

Should it not be thus with us who believe, in these glad Christian days? We should go and grow.

We should be found progressing on our heavenly homeward way. Is there not danger, great danger, of settling down satisfied with knowing that our sins are forgiven, that our souls are saved, that eternal life is ours, that heaven is secured for eternity?

In the thought of our God for His own, these blessings, great as they are, are but the beginnings of the good which is ours as Christians. They are the A, B, C, and not the X, Y, Z, the starting-point, and not the terminus, of the believer’s benefits. Beyond these there is much land to be entered upon and we should press on to possess our possessions, to enjoy all that God has made ours in Christ.

This energy of faith is found in the apostle Paul. Thirty years after his conversion he tells us his earnest endeavour in the words, “I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He still urged on his way to finish his course. He did not stop to count the mile-stones already past. He measured not the distance already traversed. The goal was still before him. He had been laid hold of by Christ for glory and until that was reached he would not rest. And meanwhile he was set on the glory of Christ and the furtherance of His interests “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead” (Phil. 3:11-14).

What “going” is in these words! And the apostle calls upon Christians to be thus minded and to “be followers together” of himself.

Should we not stir ourselves up to pursue, shaking ourselves free of all that would hinder us?

And we should be found growing.

We begin as babes in Christ. This is right. But we should grow up to be men in Christ.

Parents rejoice to see their little ones develop. They delight in the baby ways, but they look for growth as the days pass by, and that childhood and youth will be succeeded by manhood and womanhood.

So it is for us to grow up into Christ in all things, to have our faith grow exceedingly, to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” that we attain perfection, maturity and full growth as Christians, and thus be more and more for the pleasure of our Lord, and more and more fruitful for His praise and for the blessing of others.

For all this going and growing our Lord has graciously provided. We have not to set forth at our own charges.

He has given to us the Holy Spirit to empower us and to guide us in our way. He has given to us boldness to enter into the holiest, right of access into His immediate presence. There at the throne of grace we obtain and find grace for seasonable succour. He has given to us His Word upon which to feed as new born babes, desiring “the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby.” Giving diligence in reading and meditating upon the holy Scriptures we shall be able to say with the prophet of old, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. 15:16). True prosperity will be ours.

He has given us for our encouragement, others like-minded with ourselves, fellow-members of His body, the assembly. Companying with them we shall find mutual help and edification.

May going and growing mark us all more and more.

“I will go in the strength of the Lord God” (Ps. 71:16)

I.F.