Butterfly part 4
Here's the thing about a butterfly: It doesn't start out that way. It starts out as a caterpillar. Then it has to go through a transformation. I don't know exactly how long THAT transformation takes, but I know how long OUR transformation took--three days. And we transformed from sinners to saints. The fluttering of the Holy Spirit's wings in the beginning manifested at the appointed time on the cross. And we weren't just transformed, we were translated. Colossians 1:13 says it like this, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." In the beginning it (we) were void and without form. Because it was dark. We were under the power of darkness. We stumbled around in the dark doing the best we could with what we had. But the problem was that we didn't KNOW what we had. We didn't think we had anything and were constantly trying to earn something. Then, in the next breath, God spoke. He said, "Let there be light." He sent His only begotten Son into our lives. He sent the light of the world so that we could see things as they really are. And Jesus didn't just shine the light. Jesus told us that WE ARE the light! I always like to mention that Jesus proclaimed our true identity as the light of the world--the same light that HE is--BEFORE the cross. Because while a translation, a transformation, DID take place, it wasn't making something entirely new. It was making US new. RENEWING us. Bringing us back to the original state of being--which is fellowship with God. Bringing us back to relationship. Not GIVING us the light. We always have been and always will be the light. Not giving us the light... but SHOWING us the light. So that we might let it shine. God said LET there be light. The light has always been there. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was already there. God just had to speak it. The light was always there, we just needed to let it shine. We were always butterflies, we just needed to stop crawling around in the dust like caterpillars and start flapping our wings. Start flying. Stop letting the world hold us down and hold us back and start moving on the never-ending eternal life-long journey that is the Father/Son relationship with the God who is love! Start moving upward and God-ward. Start BELIEVING that we are loved, and in that way start loving one another. BE transformed into what we've already been transformed into. That's what this abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life is all about. Not about becoming. We have already become. We are complete in Him. That work is finished. But about coming into the knowledge (heart knowledge, not head knowledge) of WHAT we have become. God didn't make all new things. He didn't throw the sinners away and start over. He made all things new. He washed us clean. And by giving His life FOR us, He also gave His life TO us. So that we could experience it. So that we could partake of the Divine Nature. Having our (Spiritual) eyes opened by the shining of the light doesn't change anything. But it does reveal the change that took place 2,000 years ago on that old rugged cross. We're not catepillars trying to change. We're butterflies that are simply learning what it means to BE a butterfly. Simply learning how to fly. Simply learning how to love as we let Jesus love us. As we let God fill us to overflowing with His love. That's when it flows out of us naturally. Like a river of living water for everyone who is thirsty!