When I was elected President of my high school’s senior class in 1984, I thought it was an honor. What I didn’t realize was the title carried with it the lifetime task of organizing a class reunion every ten years or so. Now that I know that, I secretly suspect that all those people who voted for me in 1984 understood about such reunions and voted me in as punishment for the wrongs I had perpetrated against them. But then again, surely, I wasn’t that bad!

As part of working on these reunions over the years, 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 lives. They have 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 as well.    

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 crashed and burned somewhere along the way. They used to faithfully attend church, but now they stay home. They used to study the Bible, but now they spend their free time staring at a computer screen, a smart phone, or a television. They used to pray fervent prayers, but now their prayers are paltry and scarce. They used to witness, but now they rarely speak of Jesus. They’re not becoming better Christians, just older ones.

I wonder, Christian, 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 early piece.” The artist replied, “Yes, I do feel shame, but it is the shame of having never fulfilled the promise I showed with that piece.”

Christian, I don’t know what promise you once showed in your walk with Christ, and I don’t know where you are in that walk right now. 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 one. 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. If you are alive and kicking, you have the opportunity to better your walk with Christ. So, get to work at becoming more like Him. Remember that discipleship is a marathon rather than a sprint, and there is still time for you to join the race.