And with that he closes up the last of the chrysalis and begins the process unaware that he prophesied what would happen when he emerges. He will be totally new, completely changed, a new creation.
For the caterpillar the process is part of a life-cycle. Not much thought goes into the process. He just instinctively knows this is what comes next.
For us humans, making a such a monumental lifestyle change is a real journey of faith. Even if we have a vision of the end result, it can still be extremely stressful to give up life as we know it now and go through a different process, even if we are assured of a positive outcome.
The only reason we can do it is if we know for sure God is directing our steps and showing us how to avoid the pitfalls. We know He will do this because one of His names is Faithful.
He won’t leave us alone to battle our own demons. He will be with us, empowering us, giving us wisdom, reminding us “No this is the way. Walk here whenever we turn to the right or to the left.”1
The difficulty comes in the fact that many times we don’t really have enough faith to believe He knows the next step. Sometimes the next step looks impossible. We cry out and say, “I can’t leap that far.”
And He says, “I’m with you. I’m telling exactly how to do it. Just jump and I’ll catch you.”
It’s in that leap of faith that God catches us in His arms of grace. Is it difficult? Stepping out into untrodden territory is always difficult, but the outcome is not unknown.
All we have to have is just a tiny bit of faith. With that seed, mountains CAN move.2 With God all things, even those we are sure are impossible, are possible.3
It takes faith to become a new creation.4 Every ounce of willpower in the world can’t turn a caterpillar into a butterfly. Only God can do that. I know this for a fact because it happened to me. I’ve lost over 260 pounds and every day He changes me a little more.
Only God has the blueprints to make it happen if you have the faith to believe in His power and submit to His process. Do you?
What change is He calling you to?
1 Isaiah 30:21
2Matthew 17:20
3 Matthew 19:26
42 Corinthians 5:17