Where you stand in your pursuit of God comes down to three simple questions: Am I trusting Jesus? Am I honoring God? Am I helping others? These aren’t stages you graduate from but ongoing parts of following Jesus. Asking them regularly helps you see what’s growing, what’s missing, and where God might be leading you next.
Trusting Jesus
Everything in the Christian life starts with trust. You can’t earn a relationship with God by being good enough, attending church often enough, or cleaning up your life first. The Bible is clear that salvation is a gift:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Trusting Jesus begins the moment you first put your faith in him, but it doesn’t end there. It would be strange to trust Jesus with your eternity and then refuse to trust him with your health, your finances, your relationships, or your future. Trust is a daily, active choice. If you’d like to learn more about putting your faith in Jesus, check out How can I become a Christian?
Honoring God
Once you’ve trusted Jesus, the natural response is to live for him. Honoring God isn’t about earning his approval; it’s about responding to the mercy you’ve already received. Paul puts it this way:
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Honoring God involves clearing out the habits and attitudes that pull you away from him and building new ones that draw you closer, like prayer, time in Scripture, generosity, and purity. It’s a lifelong process of becoming the person God created you to be, and it always flows out of trust rather than replacing it.
Helping Others
Jesus wasn’t a self-help guru, even though his teaching has transformed countless lives. He came on a mission, and he calls his followers to join it. The Christian life was never meant to be a private journey:
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Helping others means serving people in practical ways, encouraging other believers, and pointing people who don’t know Jesus toward him. When you help someone else take their next step, you often discover your own faith growing stronger too.
Helping others doesn’t require a title or a platform. It might look like mentoring a younger believer, inviting a neighbor to church, praying with a coworker who is struggling, or serving with your church in your community. Jesus said his followers would be known by their love, and that love becomes visible when we put the needs of others ahead of our own comfort.
Taking an Honest Look
It can be helpful to think of these three as a sequence, but they really work together. Honoring God requires that you keep trusting Jesus, and helping others requires that you keep honoring God and trusting Jesus. You never leave one behind. Jesus described the kind of life he wants to give each of his followers:
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Whether you’re brand new to faith or have followed Jesus for decades, he wants you to experience that full life. If your faith feels dry or stuck, there’s a good chance something is missing in one of these three areas. Take an honest look, and ask God to show you your next step.
The Takeaway
Where do you stand in your pursuit of God? Ask yourself whether you’re trusting Jesus, honoring God, and helping others. These aren’t boxes to check once but rhythms to return to, and they lead to the full life Jesus promised.
