We can now ask the question: where does grace come from? Who or what generates this force that operates in our lives to guide our spiritual growth? Philosophers and theologians through out history struggled to explain this and have come up with only one meaningful answer: God is the source of grace. This may seem at first to be a very simplistic view, to say God is the source of grace, but offering God as the source of grace can explain why grace operates in our lives, its purpose, and its goals. 

This idea that God is behind the grace that helps us in our spiritual growth is not the final, complete answer, however. On the contrary, it is just the beginning. We should also ask: what is the purpose of spiritual growth? Why does God want us to grow spiritually? To what ideal are we growing towards? How do we identify that ideal, if indeed it even exists? In Genesis we can read that God gave Adam and Eve the commandment to be "perfect". Regardless of whether or not we take the biblical story literally, it is still meaningful to consider, what does it mean to be "perfect"?

I think to become perfect means to become like God in that we should embody all His good qualities: love, truth, beauty, righteousness, forgiveness, honesty, etc. Now to accomplish this means that we have to overcome all that is imperfect, immature, and not good about ourselves. Most people would agree that this is an incredibly difficult task, if not downright impossible. However, would God ever expect us to do the impossible? I don't think so.

Spiritual growth is hard work. It's painful. It take effort, and it doesn't come naturally. If we do not think we need to strive towards any spiritual ideal, then we can all take it easy. It is not easy to believe in a God that expects us to take responsibility for our spiritual lives. It is much easier to not believe in God, or absolute truth, or eternity. But we need to remember we are not going it alone. God and God's grace are there, helping us and guiding us along, whether we realize it or not, and whether we appreciate it or not. We should at least be grateful for the effort being expended on our behalf, and ideally we should recognize it and make it a part of our everyday life.