Dear church,

Our desire as Christians is to keep growing in Christ. As believers, we’ve received the Holy Spirit, and we begin to change. Like with anything that grows, the change is not always visible. Sometimes, it seems slow. At other times, there are growth spurts. But those inevitably are followed by more slow growth.

You know how it goes. To snap our fingers and to say we are fully mature in Christ is just not the way things work.

And so Paul – the rejoicing Paul – urged the church in Philippi to “join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”

We really ought to look around in our lives and to find those Christians who are imitating Paul and imitating Christ – those who are, as we sometimes say, “walking the walk” of the faith.

This is why the church is important, because in the church are people who are growing and people whom we can follow as they walk. We can find Christians who are further down the road of maturity, and we can watch what they do.

I remember multiple men and women in my Christian walk in whose footsteps I followed. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to have the peace they had. I wanted to have the confidence they had. I wanted to have the wisdom and generosity they had.

I’m still walking. Sometimes I feel like I’m just inching along. But we really ought to look into the church and find someone to “keep our eyes on.”

Chris