Yesterday, while I was sitting in our garden, the first butterfly of the year visited us. As I watched the butterfly perch atop a flower, I had enough time to capture its photo, and then it flew away.
In grade school science class, we were taught about the process of metamorphosis in butterflies. It is the process of a complete change in their appearance from egg to pupa to mature butterfly. When the butterfly flitted away and left our garden, I began to reflect on our process of spiritual growth and maturity. Our metamorphosis starts with the way we think about God and His Kingdom.
Paul wrote, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). We don’t change by becoming more like the world and its customs. Our transformation is different. It’s the reverse of how the world approaches change.
Paul used the word “metamorphosis” when he described our transformation. Our metamorphosis begins by knowing who God created us to be, not where we are on a given day. We transform over time because we think differently about the process of our spiritual maturation.
I was reminded of something Jan taught to her students about their spiritual metamorphosis, “You are and are becoming who you already are.”
Instead of struggling to become a strong believer, she taught in reverse. Who we are in Christ would be the platform of her teaching. It was a radical shift in people’s thinking about change. All metamorphosis in our lives comes from knowing who we are in God’s eyes and then adjusting our lives to the Lord’s image of us.
Our belief in the Lord has redefined us, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (II Corinthians 5:17).
The moment we said “yes” to following Jesus, we were placed into His Kingdom as a complete spiritual being. We became someone so new that we had never seen before. As a result, in our new way of thinking, we will see our lives through a radically new set of transformational lenses that only a belief in Jesus can provide.
God’s process of change in our lives begins with our understanding that we have been made new. The Lord wants us to view our lives as He does and to make any necessary adjustments in our lives through a new set of spiritual eyes that will embrace His completed work in us. Our new sight will transform every area of our lives and serve as evidence that we are indeed a new person.
The Monarch butterfly is black and orange. Their story starting in Mexico where they winter and then there journey to Canada where their final metamorphosis takes place for their flight back to Mexico.
They leave Mexico and it takes four stops eating milkweed laying eggs turning into a Pups emerging for the next leg eating milkweed laying eggs, pups ect. This takes place four times until last leg is reached.
What is amazing this final butterfly makes the journey back to Mexico on one hop.
We as new Christians feed on the word (milkweed) on our journey to maturity. We gain strength with each feeding, where we finally with the spirits assistance it becomes easier to stand in the light.
The picture shows yellow and black, that may be just a transfer to print. If that was the actual color, this butterfly was a swallow tail.