Metamorphosis of the Soul

I get such a kick out of God’s creation.  Some creatures truly astound me.  The butterfly is one of them. Seriously, how on earth could a lowly insect with up to 16 legs go through a “metamorphic” process to emerge the most breathtaking creature that can now fly? Yet, when I think about the transformation this caterpillar must go through to become this free-flying butterfly, I can easily visualize a similar metamorphosis of the soul for us as humans. As unbelievers we can be compared to the caterpillar, and as Christians, as we continually surrender our lives to the Lord, it is as if we can be compared to the new creature—the butterfly. But, it all begins with faith. The caterpillar must have instinctively had faith that something better was waiting for him. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life crawling around on his belly. So, he began the process of spinning himself into a chrysalis where he would remain and undergo a radical transformation. Likewise, we need faith to begin our journey with God too. In God’s infinite wisdom, He placed an instinctive need and desire in all humans to seek after Him. There is a void in our hearts that simply cannot be satisfied with anything or anyone else. Furthermore, we will not experience this full life until we fill it with His Presence.

Faith is the root of the Christian life. It is a confident belief and trust that God exists; that His only Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth as a baby, lived, suffered, and died for our sins. This faith gives us hope to live our earthly lives, often times filled with tragedy and heartache, with perseverance, knowing that one day we shall receive eternal life with our Father. This faith allows us to live in this sin-filled world and be a light unto the darkness, not succuming  under it. In the Bible, faith is defined as “being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). “And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).  Ironically, faith is something that God Himself imparts to us. His righteousness imparts to all people the ability to believe that He is God and that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).

We have been given the ability to believe; however, we are the ones who must put our faith in Jesus Christ.  This is something God will never force us to do. Sometimes, however, God allows us to get to the end of ourselves. In other words, although He doesn’t cause hardships, He allows the natural consequences of life, which includes the choices we make, to bring us to a place of desperation where there is nothing else to do but “look up.” This is the place of utter neediness and the place of surrender.  We surrender our hearts and our lives to a holy God who is and remains Sovereign.  We finally recognize that we are NOT in control, and this brings us to the perfect place where God works the most incredible miracles in our lives. When we turn to Him with childlike faith asking Him to help us in our distress, He performs the most radical surgery in our hearts.  He turns our hearts of stone into hearts that long to believe and love Him.  This isn’t an instantaneous thing.  Rather, it is a processing of surrendering our desires and turning our lives over to the One who knows and loves us the most. 

Believe me, there is work involved in this process.  This is what I call proactive faith.  Faith always requires action—it is not passive—idly sitting by doing nothing and expecting God to do it all. Our job is to seek after God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). His job is to transform our hearts.  And He will! The more we seek after Him through prayer, immersing ourselves in the Bible, and fellowshipping with other believers, the more radically He transforms us.  We slowly begin to change on the inside—comparatively like a butterfly going through a metamorphosis. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Sometimes we will not even be aware of how much we are changing, but eventually we will notice that we have been transformed on a deeper level. Maybe the same TV shows we used to watch appall us now, or when we hear the Lord’s name being spoken in vain, we cringe. And, we may even notice our own language beginning to “clean up.”  Others, too, will notice that we are different.  Those who are going through their own spiritual transformation will understand and applaud you.  Those who are not will question what happened to the “old” you.

Again, I can’t think of a better analogic comparison than that of the caterpillar that once crawled around on the floor, eventually spinning itself into a cocoon, and then emerging a beautiful new creature—a butterfly! And now for Butterfly Metamorphosis 101: Did you know that once inside its cocoon, a caterpillar changes into a pupa and slowly digests itself from the inside out, causing its body to die? During this partial death, some of the caterpillar's old tissues are salvaged to form new ones, and this remnant of cells is used to create a new body. Using its digestive juices, the caterpillar turns his old larval body into food which he uses to rebuild its new body. Eventually he is ready to emerge from his cocoon and then begins the process of pushing on the walls of the shell until it breaks open.  And we all know just how beautiful he is when he emerges with strikingly colorful, iridescent and patterned wings!

This “metamorphic” process is exactly what happens to us as we seek after the Lord with all of our hearts. We cocoon ourselves when we spend time with the Lord in worship and the study of His Word. When we fellowship with other believers, when we sit still in the Lord’s Presence.  It is the Holy Spirit who transforms our souls, and it is what He does best!  Left to our own strength we could never be “good enough” and would never emerge a new creation. Yet, the closer we draw to Jesus, the more the Holy Spirit is able to work in our lives. This, as mentioned before, is a process. (This is no different than the caterpillar that remains in the cocoon for quite a while). That is why believers still sin. Others who judge and criticize them do so unwisely, because walking in the Christian life is a day by day choice.  We are all “works in progress,” and will continue to make mistakes, lose our temper, and sin. However, because the Spirit lives in our hearts, He will convict us of our sin. Quick repentance follows because we will not like how we feel.  We know that our sin has grieved the Holy Spirit who lives within us. As we confess our sins and ask for His help in avoiding sin, we are restored to our Holy Father.  Sin will become less alluring to us as the Spirit continues to deepen our faith and draw us closer to the heart of God. We emerge as new creations in Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  This is all such a marvelous mystery.

The beautiful irony is that God knows us so intimately and loves us so immensely that He allows certain trials and tests to come our way in order to deepen our faith.  Simply put, He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. But these hardships are never to harm us…only to teach us to depend on Him and grow spiritually.  Trials have a way of doing that like nothing else.  Ask any strong Christian how they became so grounded in the Lord, and they will, no doubt, talk about some deep trials and struggles they had to face and go through. These struggles brought them to a place of surrender as they relied on Him to deepen their faith and trust in an unseen God; and, how they would never, ever turn back to their old ways!  I am one of them.

It is important to remember that we are not justified or made right with God by “observing the law”, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:15). In the Bible, the Galatians were confused as they believed that they received the God’s Spirit by simply observing the law. “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you eard?” (Galatians 3:3-5). It goes on to say that Abraham believed God and that his faith was credited to him as righteousness. Likewise, we who believe, are credited as righteous through our faith in Jesus Christ. “The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles (all non-Jews) by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’  So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:8-9). 

That is such good news for us because we could never observe the law perfectly anyway.  Jesus took care of that for us when He suffered and died on the cross for our sins. He took on the penalty for our sins through His precious blood. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit” (Galatians 3:13-14). But be warned—that does not give us license to sin because He took care of it for us.  We should strive to live a sinless life, and with the Holy Spirit’s help, we are empowered turn from sin. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). 

More good news—we can escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  If we add to our faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love, and if we continue to increase these qualities through the help of the Holy Spirit, God’s Word promises that we will not be ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  We do not have to be slaves to sin. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galations 5:1).

Throughout God’s Word, we are given precious promises from the Lord Himself that encourage and motivate us to godly living.  One of the promises I treasure the most comes from 2 Peter 1:10-11, “For if you do these things you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  I can almost imagine the scene.  Jesus welcoming me into His loving arms and eternal Kingdom forever.  No matter what has happened in my life, all the hardships I have endured and all the pain that I have suffered, will have been worth it all.  To know that my life counted for something bigger, including all of its sorrows and disappointments; to know that I am His, and that I will live forever with Jesus….well, nothing on earth could ever compare to this immense joy!