Friend, it's obvious that a doctor isn't finished with his or her education upon graduation from medical school or with the completion of a residency. Too many new things are unfolding in their discipline to stand still. You see, doctors are constantly faced with new diseases, new therapies, new drugs - it must be absolutely daunting to try to stay abreast of progress in medicine and to offer one's patients the best available information and treatment.

But what if you are a teacher, mechanic, or engineer? What if your field is accounting, computer technology, or music? Perhaps it might be sales, transportation, or government? In fact, I challenge you to name a field of endeavour in which things are simply "frozen in time" and where change isn't constant. Even historians and archaeologists have to update their notes constantly as new information comes to light.

The Scripture teaches us that only God doesn't change. "I am the Lord, and I do not change" (Malachi 3:6). "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). However, there are no equivalent Biblical statements about men and women who have been created in the image of God. To the contrary, the Bible says we must be about the business of change all the time. So we need to stop whining about it.

Whatever else it is, repentance is change - of mind, objects of affection, and lifestyle. The same is true of transformation - from sinner to saint, self-absorbed to Good Samaritan, carnal to spiritual. To live is to change.

Friend, to become more like our unchanging God and to live the immutable principles of faith, hope, and love is to change and be changed spiritually. In the words of John Henry Newman: "In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often." I once heard a preacher boast that he hadn't changed his mind on anything the Bible says in forty years. If his boast was supposed to have impressed his listeners, it has the opposite effect on me. Because anybody who hasn't learned more and changed much in four decades has wasted a huge block of his relatively short life.

The truth is, that the man or woman, who never changes an opinion, admits an error, or alters a lifestyle will never know the thrill of being wiser tomorrow than they are today.

There's an old hymn that says: "Time is filled with swift transition / Naught of Earth unmoved can stand / Build your hopes on things eternal / Hold to God's unchanging hand." I suspect Jennie Wilson who wrote those words a hundred years ago, did so because she had discovered even then that change is here to stay.

Thanks for taking the time to read what we have share with you today. We sincerely hope you have been encouraged. If we can be of any further encouragement to you, please don't hesitate to communicate with us. We are always pleased to hear from readers of our column. Our address is: Discovering A BETTER LIFE, P.O. Box 1540, Albany, WA 6331. Telephone: (08) 98 418 418. Email: abl-alb@omninet.net.au