OK, just one more story from my college days. It was Mother’s Day of 1981, and I was receiving my Bachelor of Arts degree from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia. I was already married, so we had quite the crew to attend that day. There was my mom and dad, my sister and her boyfriend and my in-laws.

We attended the church where I was music minister and then had a light lunch before heading to the graduation ceremony.

I was handed my diploma that afternoon.

My family was so proud. We had a big celebration dinner and then we sat around and visited for quite a while. My father-in-law asked me quite the thought-provoking question at one point. “Brad, what is the most important thing you learned in college?”

As I thought about it I replied, “I learned how to read.” That answer caught my mom off-guard. “Boy, I taught you how to read before you got to kindergarten,” she reminded me. And I agreed. But then I said, “You taught me how to read words and sentences. But here I learned to read – deeply, thoughtfully and for comprehension.”

I relate that to my walk with Jesus. In 1969, just a few months before I turned 10, I put my trust in Jesus for salvation. I have no doubt in my mind that I was saved, converted, born again — whatever terminology you might use — at that time. But since that day, I have been learning more about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

At that young age, I had all the knowledge and understanding I needed to become a child of God. But as Paul told the Ephesians, I still need today to “attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” I need to become more like him.

I have a question for you. If you are a Christian, do you know more about Jesus today than you did a year ago? Are you walking more closely with him? The Christian walk requires that we grow in both knowledge and faith. Don’t settle for what you had back then. Keep growing.