Where our Growth in Grace Comes From

In a November 1882 sermon on 1 John 2, the renowned pastor and preacher C. H. Spurgeon offers a profound insight into the nature of Christian maturity. His remarks come as part of his exposition on the recipients of John’s letter, particularly those referred to as “the fathers.”

This is what he says:

We usually associate that idea somewhat with age, but we must take care that we do not make a mistake here, because age, in Grace, albeit that it may run parallel with age in nature in many cases, does not always do so. In the Church of God there are children who are 70 years old.

Yes, little children displaying all the infirmities of declining years! It is not a pleasant sight to see gray-headed babies, yet I must confess I have seen such and I have even been glad that I could dare to go the length of hoping that they were babies in Christ! One would not like to say of a man of 80 that he had scarcely cut his wisdom teeth—and yet there are such—scarcely out of the nurse's arms at 60 years of age, needing just as much care and comfort as sucklings at the breast!

On the other hand, there are fathers in the Church of God—wise, stable, instructed—who are comparatively young men. The Lord can cause His people to grow rapidly and far outstrip their years. David, as a lad, was more of a father in God than Eli in his old age. Growth in Grace is not a time growth. In eternal matters, years count for little. The Lord gives subtlety to the simple and to the young men knowledge and discretion.