Everyone has a story that began with their birth. As Christians, we believe our story began with Jesus — God the Son — taking on our human nature and then proclaiming God’s Kingdom, dying on the cross and rising again. Our individual story as His disciples begins when we commit our lives to Him, which is our spiritual birth … but then what? Do we just “go to church” once a week until we die? Do we — if we’re feeling extra spiritual — occasionally pray and read our Bibles too? Is that all there is?

No. Our story as disciples of Jesus is so much more than that. At the very heart, it involves an active relationship with God — a growing intimacy that transforms us to become more and more like our Lord. While each person’s story will differ, this relationship with God must be the common link. Paul writes in Eph. 4:15 — “… speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that Christ.”

Are you growing? How can you tell? Or — even more to the point — how can others tell?