Did you know that butterflies are never mentioned in the Bible? You've got oxen, sheep, horses, donkeys, camels, frogs, snakes, and even locusts---but no butterflies. Yet if you take a closer look at the Scripture, you'll notice that even though these beautiful little insects are not mentioned by name, they can still connect to God's Word in a big way. In two separate places in Scripture, the Greek word for "transformation" is used. This Greek word would sound very familiar to English speakers. Why?
Because from that Greek word, we get the English word metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis usually refers to the life cycle of an insect, like a moth or a butterfly. From egg to caterpillar to chrysalis, each little insect has to grow and change in order to become the remarkable and lovely creatures we know them to be. Like a butterfly, human beings also have to grow and change. We, too, have a life cycle. We're born, we grow, and we mature. As Christians, we also have a spiritual life cycle. We learn to accept Christ, we become baptized in His name, we grow in our faith, and we slowly come to trust in God's grace.
When we transform our hearts and minds, we set our sights on God and we begin a journey, but our
journey doesn't end at just one stage of metamorphosis. A caterpillar can't say, "I'm good enough as a caterpillar, and this is as far as I'll go." The caterpillar has to continue through to the next stages of metamorphosis. Likewise, as Christians and as human beings, we can't ever say that we're "good enough," because God isn't finished with us yet. Our metamorphosis is a long journey, and sometimes perhaps even a struggle---but God has a plan in mind for each of us, and someday each of us will become something wonderful in God's kingdom. Until then, we keep moving, just like a caterpillar roving through the grass, with our sights set on growing and changing our lives & hearts for the better.
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| A monarch butterfly visiting some late-summer flowers outside the church. |
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| A black swallowtail beside the church here in Summit. |
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. ---Romans 2:12
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. ---2 Corinthians 3:18
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