Worms & Wings
14-Aug-09
Our family recently watched a couple Monarch caterpillars turn into their cocoon-like pupae, called chrysalises. Soon, they will “hatch” as beautiful butterflies & fly away. I have seen this before, but it got me thinking about the spiritual application. The metamorphosis is really quite amazing in both cases. The 1st photo below is a tiny caterpillar just after hatching. The 2nd photo is a full grown caterpillar that is not far from turning into a chrysalis.
CaterpillarHatches From An Egg
Crawls (bound by gravity) Black, Yellow & White Coloring Eats Milkweed Leaves ButterflyHatches From A Chrysalis
Flies Orange, Black & White Coloring Eats Flower Nectar |
Person before becoming a Christian
1st Birth (physical / flesh) - Jn 3.3-7
Captive (bound by sinful nature) – Jn 8.34, Rom 6.16, 1 Jn 1.8 Old Look (evil actions) – Col 1.21, 3.5-10, 1 Pet 4.3 Sinful Desires – Eph 2.3, Gal 5.17 Person after becoming a Christian
2nd Birth (Spiritual) - 1 Pet 1.3-5, Eph 2.1-3, 2.4-7
Free – Isa 40.31, Jn 8.36, Rom 6.18 New Look (good deeds) – Eph 2.10, 3 Jn 1.11 Godly Desires – Rom 8.5, 1 Pet 4.2 |
Just like a butterfly can't go back to being a caterpillar, a true Christian can never go back to being an unbeliever (Jn 10.29, Heb 6.4-6). A radical & irreversible transformation has occurred. This doesn’t mean that Christians are perfect. They can certainly succumb to the gravity of sin (1 Jn 1.8-10, Heb 4.14-16), but they can also rise above because of Christ’s work & grace (Rom 6.6-14). However, caterpillars can’t fly (Heb 11.6). Thus, Christians do good deeds because they’ve been transformed, not to cause the transformation (Eph 2.8-10). Caterpillars do caterpillar things & butterflies do butterfly things. Similarly, unbelievers are characterized by sin & Christians are characterized by good deeds (Mt 7.17-20, 1 Jn 1.5-7, 2 Cor 13.5).
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Want to know how to be born again? Click here.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! - 2 Cor 5.17
(Be sure to click on the chrysalis on the right to see it come to life!)
(Be sure to click on the chrysalis on the right to see it come to life!)