Why Growth Never Ends

Fourth Day from Gregory of Nyssa (Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Series)

As we continue on to Day 4 in the 12 Gifts of Christian Theology, we arrive at Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth-century thinker who challenged the idea that faith ever reaches a final, settled state.

Gregory of Nyssa by Theophan the Greek, in Anapausas Meteora, Greece (14th-century fresco, Chora Church, Istanbul)

Gregory of Nyssa was not the confident one in his family. That was his older brother Basil. Basil was admired, respected, and widely followed. Gregory lived in his shadow. When Basil died, Gregory was left with grief, doubt, and a long silence. Out of that silence came an idea that would quietly reshape how Christians think about growth, faith, and the human heart.

Gregory noticed something most people avoid admitting. The closer people get to God, the more they feel a strange pull forward. Not less desire but more. He believed this was not a failure of faith but its proof. God, he said, is infinite. And if God has no end, then love for God can never be complete. The soul keeps moving. Keeps growing.