Reunions

When I was elected president of my 1984 high school senior class, I thought it was a real honor. What I didn’t realize was that the title carried with it the lifetime task of organizing a class reunion every so often. I had a nice ten-year cycle going (a ten-year reunion and a twenty-year reunion) until this year. That’s when some in my class started calling for a twenty-five year reunion. As soon as the talk started, I knew I was in trouble. Have you ever just known that something was inevitable? That was how I felt about the reunion. There was a sinking feeling in my gut that told me these people weren’t going to let this go.That’s why I didn’t put up much of a fight to stay on the ten-year cycle. 

We are now well into the process of organizing the reunion, and I’ve noticed something interesting. Some of my classmates who didn’t excel at all in high school have gone on to live accomplished, productive, in some cases even prolific, lives. They’ve got solid marriages, great kids, good-paying jobs, and beautiful homes. In short, it’s obvious that these people didn’t just get older, they got better.     

Spiritually speaking, I wish this same thing could be said of every Christian. The ranks of Christianity are filled with far too many people who believed in Christ as Savior when they were young, went all out for Him for a while, but then burned out somewhere along the way.They used to faithfully attend church, but now they stay home. They used to study the Bible, but now they watch more television. They used to pray fervent prayers, but now they only talk to other people. They used to witness, but now they keep their mouths shut. They’re not becoming better Christians, just older ones. When someone asks them about their walk with Christ, they start off their answer with something like, “Oh, there was a time when I…” They speak in the past tense. They major on things they did for Christ years ago. They have so precious little to report concerning their present walk. It’s all very sad.

I wonder, what reunion are you up to with Christ? Has it been five years since your salvation experience? Has it been seven, ten, sixteen, twenty, or twenty-five? Has it been more? Well, whatever reunion you are on, does it find you better than your last reunion? Are you growing? Are you learning? Are you maturing? Are you a deeper Christian this year than you were last year? If not, you need to take a hard look in the mirror and figure out what happened. Don’t be like the old artist who stood staring at a painting he had done when he was young. A friend said to him, “With all the experience you’ve gained over the years, I suppose that you now feel a degree of shame over this piece.” The artist replied, “Yes, I do feel shame, but it is the shame of having never fulfilled the promise I once showed.”  

Christian, I don’t know what promise you once showed in your walk with Christ. Neither do I know where you are in that walk right now. But what I do know is that reunions keep rolling around and each one brings with it a fresh chance to show improvement. If you didn’t impress at your spiritual two-year reunion, you can start doing the things necessary to dazzle at your three-year. If you’ve already bombed out on your thirteenth, you can change your ways and set your sights on your fourteenth. You get the idea. There is still time to improve. There is still time to better yourself. Get to work at becoming more like Christ. Discipleship is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. And there is still time for you to join in the race.