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“You see,” he says, “if we both have the same Father, we are both children of God. God says ‘to all who received Jesus…He gave the right to become children of God.1’ Of course, this also means I’m now your brother.”

“That’s really incredible!” you remark.

“It truly is! You know, the Bible also says that you have now been ‘born again.’ Physically, everyone is born only once as a baby, but when we become believers, we start a new life in Christ, so we are still spiritually immature when we are born again. Just think, what does a baby know when it’s born?”

“Definitely not much,” you answer.

“Exactly. Pretty much all a baby knows is: ‘That’s my mom and I need her.’ It’s the same for ‘newborn’ believers; they know ‘that’s my God, he saved me, and I need him,’ but perhaps little else. Now, God doesn’t want his children to be immature all their lives; he wants them to grow. If you see a baby that isn’t growing, you know there must be a problem; maybe it isn’t being fed well. There are about four different things believers can do to grow in Christ: talk to God through prayer, listen to what God says by reading the Bible, get together with other believers to encourage each other and learn about God, and finally, tell others about him. Of course, these aren’t necessary to be saved, because you can’t earn salvation, yet God wants for us to let him change our lives and serve him.”

“Wow. That’s so amazing!” you say. “Thanks for everything!”

“Thank God for everything!” he replies.

The end (yet only the beginning!)

1 – John 1:12