Romans 12:2
Today I was reading a book titled Questions of Life by Nicky Gumbel. As you may or may not know, this book is part of a series that is tied with Alpha. The youth group here will be starting Alpha in March and I am reading the book in preparation for leading a small group. I am in the last chapter of the book and which is titled "How Can I Make the Most of the Rest of My Life?" It this chapter the life of a Christian is compared to the life of a butterfly.
As a Christian who grew up in church, I have heard Romans 12:1-2 many times. I even have it memorized, which is rare for me. In the book the author talks about how the transformation mentioned in this verse is like the life of a caterpillar/butterfly. As I thought about it, I realized that it makes a lot of sense. We start off as caterpillars, which are often not very beautiful. When we come to know Christ, he forgives us of our sins and enables us to look more like him, beautiful. However, we have to go through a transformation process that does not happen overnight.
We spend our lives in a chrysalis. As we grow in our walk with Christ, we are transformed. We begin to see parts of our lives that we have not submitted to God, and give them up to him. Then, we become more and more like him. Just as we are being transformed, a caterpillar is transformed into something more beautiful as it is in a chrysalis.
As I thought more about the idea of us spending our lives in a chrysalis, I realized one very important fact. When an caterpillar finds a little branch and decides to perch itself upon it, it becomes very vulnerable. When it wraps itself up in its cocoon and is hanging for all of that time, it cannot defend itself and it is vulnerable to what is happening around it.
Thankfully, we always have God to turn to, so we are not completely susceptible to our enemies, whether physical or spiritual. However, there is something to be said about the factor of vulnerability in this metaphor. When we submit to God and allow ourselves to be vulnerable like the chrysalis, some incredible things can happen.
This vulnerability comes in two ways. First of all, the more we submit to God and turn towards him, the more Satan will desire to hinder our progress. For Satan does not want to see any one of us draw nearer to God and accomplish things in his name. Nonetheless, if we turn to God when we feel these attacks, it will only help us to draw nearer to him and become stronger.
This vulnerability as a chrysalis is also expressed to those around us. As we begin to realize our weaknesses and submit to God, we become vulnerable to our friends, both Christians and Non-Christians. We become vulnerable to Christians, because God helps us to act in humility and confess our sins to those who can help keep us accountable. In doing this we only strengthen our relationship with others who are in this walk with us. When we become vulnerable to our friends who are not Christians, they are able to see that we are human, and we know that we do not have it all together. We can counter hypocrisy with honesty about who we are and what God is doing in our lives.
So, with all of this said, I am willing to be a chrysalis from now until eternity, if it means that I will turn out to be more beautiful in the end. I also hope that we can all see the beauty in the vulnerability, though, as well and make strides towards a closer relationship to God and humility when interacting with others.
That is all I have to say for now. I was just so struck by this metaphor and in light of some conversations I have had lately, I wanted to share it with you all. Hopefully it offers some inspiration.
Sincerely,
Blythe
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