Dear Friends,
I hope this will benefit you. This is taken from
Intouch Magazine.
In Christ Jesus,
Biji James,
Bangalore
ANATOMY OF A BUTTERFLY
**********************
The caterpillar crawls along the crooked cement
sidewalk, inspecting every crevice for some piece of
bark or leaf under which to hide. His alarm radar is
high; a blue swallow encircles the air above, and he
is hungry. Even the caterpillar's foul, yet
protective, odor can't save him now. His only hope is
for a brisk wind to blow a leaf or other means of
shelter his way.
Do you ever feel like this caterpillar, as if the
only hope you have is beyond your reach? Maybe you're
sitting at your desk today wondering how your life has
taken the turns you've experienced lately. Or perhaps
you are at home�bored and indifferent to the routine
of living�wishing you could just start over.
Like the caterpillar, many of us spend huge
amounts of time crawling through life, searching for
some external covering to meet our deepest needs.
Some of us have suffered physically and have been
taunted beyond what seems reparable. Others of us were
scarred emotionally because of our parents' words or
our spouse's accusations. Still others of us drag
behind us a trail of spiritual defeat: never really
breaking through to experience God like we've been
told we could.
Wherever you are at this moment, understand that
hope is within your reach. As a matter of fact, hope
is not something you have to look for. No amount of
money, no transformation of your appearance, no job or
location change, and no alteration to your spouse or
family will be the escape�the protective covering�that
you seek.
The covering you're searching for is found not in
external things, pursuits, or even your good habits.
When we accept Jesus Christ as payment for our sin and
ask for His forgiveness, He changes us internally. He
exchanges our old selves for new ones.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is
in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have
passed away; behold, new things have come."
The moment you and I receive Jesus as our Savior,
an inward change begins to erupt. It's similar to the
change that a caterpillar undergoes in its
metamorphosis to a butterfly.
1. The caterpillar realizes even its built-in
protective mechanisms cannot protect itself. That is
why it searches for shelter in its environment. What
part of your environment�your steady job, your stable
plan for the family, your appearance or your
talents�have you sought shelter in?
2 . The caterpillar survives for a while, but
ultimately realizes its efforts to hide are futile. As
it slides from bark to leaf to shade, a caterpillar
will eventually exhaust itself. Are you tired of the
life you've been living? Have you grown weary of the
mechanisms�achievement at work or school, approval
from friends, etc.�you've used to hide who you really
are?
3. Throughout its life span, the caterpillar sheds
its outer layer of skin several times. In our futility
with the lives we lead, however predictable and safe
they may seem, we often try to shed the struggles and
pains we've experienced. With our exfoliation we try
to rid our lives of their cyclical, mediocre pace. Are
there lifestyle changes or thought patterns you have
tried to "throw off" in an attempt to make yourself
happy with your life?
4. Ultimately, the caterpillar's life changes
dramatically by no effort of its own. Known as the
"pupa" stage, the time period when a caterpillar is
transformed into a butterfly resembles resting; the
caterpillar does not eat, increase in size, or show
any signs of outward activity. At the right time,
however, a great deal of internal metabolic activity
occurs. It's this internal activity that changes the
caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Have you
stopped and asked Jesus Christ to do internal work, by
coming into your heart, that you simply cannot do?
Much like the unseen transformation process of the
caterpillar, the change that occurs when we give our
lives to Christ frequently goes undetected.
Unfortunately, because we're not aware of what the
Lord has done inside us, we keep barreling through
life as we always have, failing to factor in that we
are completely different�changed by the Creator
Himself.
The King James translation of 2 Corinthians 5:17
says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new." The Greek verb tense used for
"passed" signifies a one-time event. What you once
were is dead, and that is final.
The perfect tense is used for the "new"
transformation that has taken place in your life. Your
new life is in the process of emerging. It has begun,
and God will continue to shape that new life until you
meet Him in heaven.
Therefore, when you think you have to settle for
your experience with God as it is now (that it will
never go deeper), it's a lie. When you don't believe
you will ever break through the strongholds from your
past, you're being deceived by the father of
lies�Satan. And when you trust in the external things
such as how you look or what you do to measure your
worth, you are discounting the truth that Jesus
Christ's new birth inside you is the only thing that
defines your value.
To a confused Nicodemus, Jesus described spiritual
birth as if it were wind. In John 3:8 He says, "The
wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of
it, but do not know where it comes from and where it
is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Once you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you
cannot change the fact that you are a new person.
Whether the wind of your new life is a slight breeze,
a stormy gust, or something in between, the truth is
that the wind will never die out. Your relationship
with the Lord is meant to be exciting, changing, and
new with each day.
Consequently, we are frustrated when our
relationship dictates a standstill, when our once
vibrant faith seems stale, and when we are discontent
with life as it is but unsure of how to proceed. Kim
Thomas, author of Living in the Sacred Now, explains:
"We have dipped our toes into the waters of faith, but
kept a safe distance from the demands and
responsibilities of deeper waters. We just keep our
lives moving. As long as we are controlling things
satisfactorily, our spiritual needs are reduced to a
simple good night prayer . . . 'God,' we pray, 'don't
woo me to the deep end.'
"We wonder, after years of this practice, why our
souls are leaking and our faith is failing. Unmoved to
cultivate the richness of a spiritual life, we have
lived a polite, shallow faith, and now find that we
are unprepared for the depths of sorrow, anger,
betrayal, and disappointment we sometimes face."
Like the caterpillar clamoring for safety, we
stumble through life looking for salvation when the
Savior we already know waits for us to turn to Him.
And when we turn, we see a portrait of our real selves
in His reflection. We are needy people who have been
blessed with the answer to our needs; He lives within
us. No longer are we the disgruntled, insecure, afraid
caterpillar. Instead, we have a relationship with the
One who is molding us into the gorgeous butterfly we
yearn�and were created�to be.
Copyright � 2002 IN TOUCH MINISTRIES. All rights
reserved.
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