- -2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature:old things are past away;behold all things are become new.
- As I look at a Butterfly I can't help but compare it to the change that our lives go through when we are saved.
- Monarch Butterflies are my favorite so it is the butterfly that I will be using as my example.
1. The Monarch butterfly lays their Eggs on a single milk weed leaf. From egg to Larva it takes about 3 to 12 days. From egg to adult butterfly takes about 30 days. Like us they start as just a speck, but a speck that has lots of potential.
2. When the eggs hatch a Caterpillar emerges. The caterpillar immediately starts eating the milk weed that has hosted their egg. We are born and then start acting must like the caterpillar. As he feeds off of his world, literally destroying his host plant by eating every leaf and most of the stem. in feeding off his surrounding world he leaves only destruction in his wake. We are pretty much the same, when we are born and as we grow up we feed off the world and all its sinful opportunities and leaves lots of destruction in our wake. And as the caterpillar, we to must realize we need a change in our lives. We like the caterpillar have a longing deep within us a longing for change. And with that realization we must take action, we must answer that call to change. If we or the caterpillar ignore the call we will die without ever reaching our potential.
3. Cocoon (Chrysalis) The caterpillar must take action and stop what he has been doing and start to change. He has to turn from the life he knows and how he has been living and start over in a new way. And to do this the caterpillar has to die to self and begin again. It encases itself in a cocoon, a place of change where one life ends and another begins. It is a place of change and growth. It is the home of new beginnings. Just as we must stop our sinful, destructive life. Dying out to self so that we can be reborn in Christ. It is a time of transition, a time for and ending as well as a time for a new beginning. There will be a complete change in us as well, one life ends so another can begin. And I can assure you that the result of change for both the caterpillar and us will be an amazingly beautiful.
4. Butterfly A caterpillar stays in the cocoon between 10 days and 2 weeks. In that time there is a lot of growing and changing taking place before it can emerge as a beautiful butterfly. It takes time for it to reach its full potential. Just as when we stop the destructive path we are on and die out to self and get saved it takes time to grow and change into our full potential in the Lord. Just as the caterpillar emerges from the cocoon a beautiful butterfly, so we as a new creature in Christ also emerge from the darkness and sin that we were in to be changed and emerge as a beautiful Child of God. We must die to self so that we can start a new life in Him. We must as the caterpillar answer the call to change.
The Butterfly has a life span of about a month, seems like a very short time, but living each of those days at its full potential it can accomplish a lot such as Breeding, Pollination, Laying Eggs, and Blessing us with its beauty. Yes, this short life can make a big impact on all it touches. Just as we Christians have but just a few short years to work and change those lives around us. Like the butterfly if we keep working at our full potential everyday we to will make a big impact on the world we live in.
We need to live ever mindful of the Butterfly Effect and how we to can make a difference.
-SG
