Pleasant Valley Baptist Church

The Epistle of Jim

May 2004

When Zechariah was born I marveled at how tiny he was. Of course, tiny is relative because at 10 pounds 1 ounce he was huge for a newborn. But in comparison to his brother who is 16 months his senior, Zach is tiny. There’’s quite a difference between picking up little Zach and big boy Micah!

It is hard to think that just a year ago Micah was the size of his little brother. It has been amazing how fast he has grown. It has happened right before my eyes. To think that just a short time ago Micah was only lying in his crib, then struggling to roll over, then pushing up on all fours and crawling, and finally standing and walking. How quickly they change.

But that is how life is. Things are constantly changing around us. What was new yesterday is outdated today. Today’’s new fad is tomorrow’’s retro fashion. By the time you can buy the latest technological gizmo at the store, some guy in the lab has come up with improvements that make it obsolete.

Life is change. To be alive is to grow and adapt. If we aren’’t growing we’’re decaying. This is true in our physical lives and in our spiritual lives. God’’s purpose in your life is to transform you into the image of His Son. He desires to continually mold and shape you, to change you. We cannot stay the same and think that we are pleasing God.

So that brings the question to my mind: Have you grown spiritually in the last year? Can you look back at yourself and see that you were like a newborn but now are a toddler? Can you say that you are closer now to being a grown up like Christ than you were a short time ago? Change is good. Are you letting God change you into what He wants?