It's not the years...it's the mileage.

As a kid of the 80's I grew to love watching the Indiana Jones movies. I don't usually watch movies more than once or twice at most but I could watch the Indiana Jones movies over and over. A few years ago, my wife bought me a card for my birthday. On the outside it has a picture of Indiana Jones and reads "When they ask you how old you are, take some advice from Dr. Jones..." On the inside it says "It's not the years...it's the mileage. Here's to being well traveled!" I've kept the card on a shelf in my office as a reminder of many things. My wife's love, her sense of humor, and her desire to keep me in my place as the older of the two of us. But I've kept it also as a reminder of the perspective we should have as Christians when it comes to our walk with Christ.

Many people who profess their faith in Christ can tell you how old they were when they became a Christian. Some can even give you down to the date and time (which always impresses me because I can't remember info like that). But the problem is that the longer we are a Christian, the more we sometimes make it about our term of service and less about what's gone on during that time. I can tell you that I've been a Christian for 25 years and on some level that is important. It shows when God changed my life and how long I've had a relationship with the One who is "the way, the truth, and the life." But what does it matter if you've been a Christian for 25 years or 60 years if that time spent in relationship with the God of the Universe has done little to mold you into the image of Christ? The goal of every believer should be to be more like Christ today than they were yesterday. If you show little difference from the time you received Christ as your Lord and Savior to today, then you have made it all about the years and not about the mileage.

Here's my encouragement to you today. If you have been one of those that revel in the fact you've been a Christian for umpteen years but you've done little in those years to draw close to God, then start today. There is no time like the present when it comes to working on your relationship with God. Seek God's forgiveness for your lack of attention to your relationship with Him and move forward in a new direction with God. You won't regret it.

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