How can you tell you are growing as a follower of Jesus?

Should you measure church attendance, number of Bible studies, small group participation, Bible verse memorization, leadership in church activities? Sometimes, unintentionally, these become the ways we measure our growth.

A good way to tell if you are growing as a follower is to look at what concerns you.

Are the concerns of Christ becoming your concerns? As followers of Jesus, we are called to look more like our Lord, to become more like Christ in heart and action. So, as we grow, our concerns become more like the concerns of Christ. If someone were to ask you, “What concerns God? What does God care about?” How would you answer?

If Christ were to walk around in your world, what would He care about?

The Bible helps us understand the concerns of Christ for this world. To name a few, we can read that God is concerned about His glory and His worship. He is concerned about people, their needs and the situations in which they live. He is concerned about justice and mercy. He is concerned about truth.

He is concerned about children, reminding us that we must become like them in order to enter the kingdom. He is concerned about the materially poor and the poor in spirit. He is concerned about His people, that they be one in spirit and purpose. He is concerned that all nations come to know Him.

The important thing is to get involved.

Go someplace to serve someone else. As you go, pray that the Spirit makes the concerns of Christ your own. Pray that you become more like Christ as a result of serving.

Doing good things in this community and around the world is not an end in itself. Serving is not the primary goal. We want to be more like Christ. We want the concerns of Christ to be our own. When this happens, the world will be drawn to Christ because of the love they see between us and for others.