My wife, Laura, and I, recently flew to San Antonio, Texas to watch our oldest son graduate from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. We watched with parental pride as he became an honor graduate, a member of an honor flight, and an airman in the United States Air Force.

During his weeks of basic military training, he learned several things about life and about himself. I believe the lessons he learned are applicable to the Christian life. Most Christians and most churches can benefit by practicing the following basics:

• Manners. "Yes sir...no sir...thank you sir...have a nice afternoon sir." Although my son had fairly good manners, he improved them greatly during his time at Lackland. During my recent visit, I watched him open doors for ladies, stand to the side as people passed, look people in the eye when he spoke to them, and listen as others talked without interrupting. It seems to me, that Christians should be the most polite people on the planet, but that has not been my experience. Paul told the church at Colossae, “… as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col. 3:12, NIV).
• Discipline. Without going into too many details, let's just say the military taught him discipline. He knows how to complete tasks, on time, with excellence and regularity. Far too often, those who serve in the Lord’s army serve with a half-hearted effort and with a real lack of consistency when the Scripture says, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
• Teamwork. At basic training, the “trainees” are divided into flights and squadrons. The flights and squadrons win or lose as a group. They work together, eat together, live together, and ideally, stick together. They help individuals improve, so the group will improve. The Bible clearly teaches the importance of Christians sticking together and working as a group.
• Loyalty. The airmen are loyal to their group, their training instructor, and to their country. Their training instructor is extremely demanding, but he protects them and pushes them to reach heights they did not know they could reach. As believers, we need to be marked by loyalty to the Lord and to His work. We need to continue to strive to become like Jesus in all we do.
• Toughness. To make it through basic training, you have to get tough—physically and emotionally. As believers, we should be spiritually tough when we’re weary and tough on the sin in our lives.