Radical Transformation

I am mesmerized by butterflies. I’ve also experienced some pretty revolutionary encounters with some. One time I was praying for something specific and asking God, “Who am I allowing to lead me with ‘this?’ Am I allowing others to lead me, my emotions or are you leading me, God?” I was jogging during my prayer and came upon an enormous, velvety black butterfly resting on the ground right in front of me. When I got closer it lifted up off the ground, encircled me once and then took off flying directly in front of me. After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I took off behind this incredible creature. It flew a few feet in front of me and then landed on a nearby branch hanging beside the road. As soon as I caught up, it took off in front of me, and then once again landed on another branch. This interaction continued several times until it finally flew away. At this point I could barely see because of all the tears muddling my vision. I had my answer to my prayer.

A caterpillar turns into a butterfly. It’s not resuscitated into what it once was; it becomes a brand new creation that didn’t even exist before. In fact, during the metamorphosis process, its’ body is broken down into a soupy mixture and then rebuilt with different muscles. The new muscles are necessary because it will need them for flying since it will no longer be crawling. If it didn’t believe it had experienced a radical transformation there would be no flying. If it kept its’ original instinct, it would behave as if nothing had changed.

Everything has changed for us. We have had a radical transformation from our rebirth in Christ. We have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) We have ALL of the Fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) We have been given supernatural thoughts and responses instead of relying on our natural instincts. But so often we act as if nothing has radically changed. We still keep crawling on the ground limiting our vision. And that view is only a tiny, minuscule sliver of truly what is in front of us right now in this present moment.

What if we believed we have been radically changed and remind ourselves of this truth each and every day? I believe we would begin to experience God’s guidance in a much more freeing way than we ever thought possible.

Fly free, my friends!