Lionel Messi is recognized as one of the top soccer players in the world. However, he didn’t start out as one of the best. He had to work his way up. He said, “The day you think there is no improvements to be made is a sad one for any soccer player…I start early and I stay late, day after day, and year after year. It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”

What is true with soccer is also true for Christianity. Once you are baptized into Christ you don’t instantly become a mature follower of Jesus. That only comes with constant practice. The apostle Paul says in Phil.4:9, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

As we progressively instill the principles of Christianity into our lives, people should be able to see a difference in us. Paul urged Timothy, “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. (1 Tim.4:15).

What sort of progress have you made lately?