by The caterpillar hastily munched through his last leaf. While bending his body, he glanced up and down, left and right, but there were no more green leaves to be seen anywhere on the bush. He slowly marched upward toward a bent branch. The sun was sinking low in the sky and the cool evening air rolled across his black and yellow wrinkled body.
He had one last thing to do for the day.
As the sun sank below the horizon, he quickly spun his little bit of webbing and attached himself to the branch. Then – he let go! Hanging upside down was a new experience for him. But from this point forward, he would face many new experiences. His head curled up and he froze into his final position – a ‘J’. He could see his friends hanging throughout the leaf-empty bush.
He glanced towards his friends, but they looked different somehow.
Peaceful – the night was so peaceful. The sun rose again, the dew dried off his body, and he saw the world from a new perspective. Instead of looking at leaves and the ground, he was looking up at the blue sky and white clouds. The sun went down a second time. Tomorrow would be his last day to enjoy hanging; but before tomorrow night’s sunset, he knew it would be time.
It would soon be time for him to change.
The third sunset was happening. Within the blink of an eye, his old caterpillar skin rolled back. His body made one last twitch and off his caterpillar skin fell gently to the ground. There – the transformation had begun. His inner beauty was shining forth. He proudly displayed his bright green chrysalis hanging anchored to the bent branch.
A caterpillar never more he would be.
Many moons came and went, the sun shone many days, rains came, winds blew, and several weeks went by. His green chrysalis had changed. The chrysalis’s shell was now transparent and beneath its exterior there could be seen a little of the most glorious transformation that had taken place while the caterpillar had hung in the bush for several weeks.
New wings were tightly wrapped around his tiny, hidden body. Colors of orange, small dots, and lines delicately decorated every inch of his new being.
His transformation was almost complete.
And then – the morning sunbeam wrapped its warmth around his chrysalis. The final act of the transformation was finished. A “new” creature slowly emerged from the thin, clear shell of the chrysalis.
The caterpillar stretched out his new wet, wrinkled-up wings. His feet crawled across the branch, but he still had to hang for a while. Although now he hung upside-down in his new butterfly body warming himself in the sunlight for a couple hours.
What had happened to him?
As butterfly, he was born wet. His thousands of tiny scales that covered his majestic wings had to dry.
“You see a butterfly cannot fly if he is wet and temperatures are too cool.”
While he hung, occasionally a drop of orange color dripped and stained the ground below. After a couple hours, his wings were dry. The newly emerged butterfly flapped his wings a few times and – within the blink of an eye – off he flew to explore his new life God had given him.
Recently I memorized the verse below:
II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
I pondered, “behold, all things are become new.”
My girls and I used to catch butterflies. We have many wonderful memories of catching and studying butterflies. It has also been fun and challenging capturing the various stages of the metamorphosis in photography, especially the stage where the old skin falls off the caterpillar body.
“What am I going with all this?” There was not one thing about the butterfly that was like the caterpillar. Every square millimetre of his butterfly body was new.
This verse talks about if “any man be in Christ, he is a new creature…”
If you are saved, are you a new creature? Or are you still hanging onto things from the old life? Some Christians get saved and they make a 100% change in their life, become new creatures, and move forward as a Christian. They throw off the old lifestyle (the old caterpillar life) and embrace their newly given life in Christ.
However, some Christians get saved and they still hold onto parts of their old lifestyle (parts of the caterpillar body). They seem afraid to let go of old friends and sinful habits. What they do not realize is they are missing soaring to new heights (in their new butterfly body) as a transformed Christian.
A real butterfly never goes back to being a caterpillar. His new butterfly life is way better and exciting than the old caterpillar life. Why would he want to crawl on the dust of the ground anymore and live-in fear of being bird food when he can spread his wings and fly around God’s creation?
According to God’s Word, “…if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (a butterfly): old things are passed away (the old caterpillar life); behold, all things are become new.”
So, this is an encouragement to you today. If you are saved, then God has made you a new creature. He has made you into a butterfly. Do not be afraid to be the Christian you are meant to be for the Lord. Like the butterfly discards the old caterpillar life and moves on to fly around and show off its beauty to the world, Christians need to:
- Be a whole new creature
- “…Put away the old man…” Col. 3:9
- Do not even let one part of the “old man” stay
- Put off the old worldly friends
- Put on new Godly friends
- Put off the old worldly dress
- Put on a new Godly dress
- Put off the old worldly music
- Put on new God honoring music
- Put off any old sinful lifestyle issues
- Put on a Godly lifestyle
- Let the world SEE that you are a new creature in Christ
- Read Colossian 3:1-17
This coming year make a new year’s resolution for God and be the new creature he has transformed you to be. Put away the old caterpillar lifestyle, spread your Christian wings, and and allow God’s new transformation in your Christian life (or butterfly life) to shine forth to a lost and dying world.
Spread the gospel and help other caterpillars change into their butterfly life for Christ.
Don’t be afraid to show forth the new creature God has transformed you to be! You might be surprised at the wonderful things God has for you in your butterfly, Christian life.
