The Caterpillar & Butterfly

Most of us know that a caterpillar will one day wrap itself in a cocoon and then eventually emerge from the cocoon as a butterfly. But how many of us have taken the time to think of the various ways the caterpillar and the butterfly are different?

Appearance
Although some are cute and fuzzy, there are many that would fall into the downright ugly or at least, plain looking, category.

Environment
Normally found in the grass or on leaves, the caterpillar rarely crawls out onto a rock or other smooth surface to sun itself, since such activity would increase it's risk of being picked off by a bird or other predator who might consider the caterpillar a nice snack. The caterpillar spends its days crawling around under leaves or grass, eating and hiding from anything that might want to eat it. The extent of it's travels is limited by the caterpillars short legs and slow pace.

Appearance
Unlike the caterpillar, we would be hard pressed to find a butterfly that did not fall into the beautiful or awesome category.

Environment
The butterfly can be found nearly anywhere, on top of a tree, on the petals of a flower, on a rock at the edge of a stream, or on the top of a mountain. It can fly away from it's enemies; and spends it's days flying to and fro, unencumbered by obstacles which might lie across it's path. Likewise, the extend of it's travels is nearly limitless, it can travel thousands of miles over land or sea, and can do so at a speed far exceeding the caterpillars.

And they are not just different in the way they look, the caterpillar and butterfly live dramatically different lives, due mainly to the freedom that the butterfly experiences in it's new body. The caterpillar is bound by the limitations of it's short legged, earthbound body, which affect the caterpillar's area of influence, and it's ability to perceive and avoid creatures that would cause it harm. While the butterfly experiences boundless freedom, now able to put away the limitations that it had as a caterpillar.

The butterfly can now see surrounding hazards and danger easier, and is better prepared to avoid those hazards; can soar high above the obstacles which were formerly in it's path, and is no longer limited to the frustration of crawling over and through the obstacles crossing it's path. The butterfly now sees the world in a new light, through new eyes, from a new vantage point. And although it is the same world, it suddenly looks very different. What once looked to be one giant obstacle to the caterpillar, now looks like one giant opportunity to the butterfly. An opportunity to see things from a new vantage point, to explore a new world, and to expand it's travels and influence beyond the small world it knew as a caterpillar, to the new wide open world it now sees as a butterfly.

What Is The Point Of This Article?
Our God loves to create parallels, He has done it throughout the Bible, He presents something to us in the Old Testament that foreshadows a person or event in the New Testament. I would suggest that He has done it again with the transformation of the caterpillar to the butterfly. Just as the caterpillar is reborn as a butterfly, we can also be born again as a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" NIV)

The caterpillar represents us - before God begins to draw us to Himself; before our eyes are opened to see and acknowledge our sinful nature; recognize our need to turn (repent) from our sinful ways; understand and accept that God became a man (Jesus), who was the only sinless person ever to walk this earth; realize that Jesus suffered and died on the cross to pay for the sins of all who would believe in Him; acknowledge that we cannot qualify to spend eternity with God by anything that we can do; accept that Jesus has given His life for us; understand the love that God has for us; desire to experience change in our lives and welcome the influence of God's word on our lives.

Until God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear, we are bound by our sinful nature; limited in our ability to see the big picture, and blinded to the hazards and dangers of the sinful world around us. All we can see is how everything affects us, our focus is on ourselves, me, me, me, it's all about us. We want this, we want that, we decide if we will stay in a marriage or relationship by evaluating what we are getting out of it, we are concerned only with our own happiness, and cannot see beyond our own desires to see the need and hurt in the lives of those around us.

The butterfly represents us - after God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear; after we acknowledge our broken, sinful nature and (by God's grace) begin to understand the depth of love that God has for us; after we realize that Jesus died as a perfect sacrifice for our sins; after we accept God's word as truth and God as a sovereign authority in our lives.

It is only then through God's word of truth, through the blood of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit that we are empowered to overcome our sinful nature. We can now recognize the hazards and dangers of the sinful world around us that we previously were unable to see, we have been lifted up by God, to see things from a better vantage point, to see things as they really are. And we are charged by Jesus to go out into the world, our new expanded territory, and share the joy of our transformation with others.

Just as we see the beauty of the butterfly, and marvel at the transformation it undergoes, so should the people around us recognize the change in our lives; our new attitude; our desire to put others before ourselves, and find themselves marveling at the transformation in us.

Praise God, for His awesome wonder and creativity.