The Free and Light Life

What do a butterfly and a frog have in common?  They both go through a major transformation in life. The butterfly, of course, started out as a caterpillar and the frog as a tadpole.  They end up looking totally different in the end.  We can learn a lot of life lessons by looking at God's creation.  In fact, I think the countless variety of animals and uniqueness of each species was given to us as a gift from God for us to have one moment after another with the Holy Spirit as our teacher.

 

Romans 12:2 tells us "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."  I think you probably already know that most of the world and the way they think, talk and act is not what you want out of life.  You can see the futility, confusion and lack of results in their way of life.  For the born-again Christian, I know you want what God has to offer.  

 

But have you ever tried to do things God's way and you fail time after time?  Like you decide today that you are going to love others the way He commands us to, you are going to have loving thoughts and hold your tongue but then someone ticks you off five minutes later and you say something you regret or you go complain about them and gossip about them to your coworker even though you know you shouldn't?  What's going on here?  You want to do what is right and get the results that God's way can bring you but you seem to lack the power to carry it out.  You feel in bondage to some invisible force and life becomes wearisome. 

 

We'll need to become like the caterpillar if we want to have the free and light lifestyle of the butterfly.  The caterpillar first has to choose to die to itself.  It has to give up its will to stay a caterpillar and do things the caterpillar way (those habits, attitudes and thought processes) in order to become a butterfly.  In fact, when the caterpillar builds the cocoon around itself, it's almost like a mini coffin.  

 

You are also going to have to be willing to die to yourself (your habits, attitudes, and thought processes) to become the person both you and God want you to be and to have the results in life of a person walking by the Spirit.  Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."  

 

As long as you hold on to your "right" to get offended, irritated, think thoughts contrary to God's word, say whatever comes to mind, withhold forgiveness and say "I don't care, they don't deserve my forgiveness," you won't live the free and light life of the butterfly.  You'll be the lowly life of a caterpillar that is crawling your way through life.  You were never intended to crawl but to fly.  

 

Once you've made the decision that no matter how painful the process might be to make the transformation but you know you want it more than anything, there will be the time you will spend in your cocoon.  When the caterpillar is in the cocoon, you can't see what is happening.  You can't see the changes it is going through.  But changes are happening slowly every day.  

 

Our cocoon is a time in our life where we are working on transformation but it isn't always immediately evident that anything is happening, even to our own eyes.  This can be frustrating as you want to just get past these trials and tests and move on to results.  These can be times in our lives where we wish we were making a bigger impact for Christ and yet we seem to be kept behind the scenes.  Yet if you had your destiny revealed to you at this stage, you likely would not be able to handle it.  In this stage, God is dealing with wrong ideas, wrong motives, and wrong prejudices.  He's strengthening your character to handle your next assignment.  In fact, if we thought we were helping the new butterfly out by cutting open the cocoon to make its exit easier, we'd actually be bringing death upon the butterfly.  It needs to do that exit on its own to strengthen the newly formed wings for flight.  And if you hurry past your cocoon stage you won't be strong enough to handle what is next either.

 

Think of the major Bible men and women that had long periods of preparation before stepping into their destiny.  Joseph in prison. Abraham waiting for the birth of Isaac. Moses in the wilderness.  Moses went into the wilderness after killing an Egyptian.  He had power going into the wilderness but he was transformed when he came out.  He still had power but it was a different kind.  The Bible says Moses was the meekest man on earth.  Meekness is not weakness.  It is strength controlled.  Their cocoon years transformed them and prepared them for their destiny.

 

In the natural, the caterpillar is in a cocoon for 7 days or even up to a year.  What will make the difference of how long we will be in this stage?  I think it will be whether or not we pull away from God or get closer to God during this time.  When the trials come and God is wanting to transform us, do we run to Him with questions (this is a good thing if we truly want to learn)?  Do we confess our unwavering faith in His faithfulness?  Do we submit?  Or do we complain, fight it and get mad at God for allowing us to go through this?  If we'll worship Him in it, He'll get us through it.  

 

Jesus said in this world we will have troubles, but we are supposed to go through them, not stay in them.  Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."  Psalm 91: 14-16 "Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

 

So back to my original question of what is going on when we want to do right but keep failing?  Why do we lack the power to carry through on the right actions we know we should do?  It's either 1) we haven't yet decided to die to ourselves and let God be Lord in our lives or 2) we are in the cocoon phase and we are still maturing and transforming.  It takes time to develop stronger spirits - to become spirit dominated and not body and soul dominated.  But if we'll stick with it, suddenly things will start to change and we'll start busting through the cocoon of death (death to things that needed to go) into a new life that is so free and light that we fly like a beautiful butterfly showing forth the Creator's goodness.