March 31, 2024
To me, one of the coolest things that takes place in nature is the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. I think most of us will agree that a caterpillar isn’t overly beautiful (except maybe to another caterpillar). We could also agree that the finished product, a butterfly, is very beautiful. Just how does a caterpillar become a butterfly? It goes something like this, a very hungry caterpillar hatches from an egg. The caterpillar, (or larva for you scientifically minded folks), gorges itself with leaves, growing fatter and longer through a series of molts in which it keeps shedding its skin. At a certain point, known only to the caterpillar, it stops eating, hangs upside down from a branch and spins itself a really cool looking, silky, cocoon. Within this protective shell, the caterpillar undergoes a radical transformation, eventually emerging as a beautiful butterfly. Basically, the caterpillar dies to itself so the butterfly transformation can take place. Science has its explanation, but even after reading it, I still must admit I don’t really understand how this change takes place. Something similar will happen to Christians one of these days. On that “great, getting up morning” when the last trumpet sounds and Jesus returns for His brothers and sisters, we will all “be changed” from our frail, mortal bodies to our glorified, eternal bodies. Just like a caterpillar, most of us will die before this takes place. Also like the caterpillar, there are some things about my earthly body that are “ugly”. I have a bad heart, a lazy eye, and I am missing a kidney. If I sit too long, my hip hurts when I stand up. I am not very patient, and I am not very good at waiting, for anything. Sometimes, I have a temper and quite often I speak when I should keep quiet. However, one of these days, even though I have read about it in the Bible (see I Corinthians chapter 15) and still don’t quite understand how it happens, just like the caterpillar trades in his caterpillar body for a butterfly, we will trade our earthly, frail sinful bodies for an eternal, glorified one. If that isn’t enough, we will live in these glorified bodies forever in the presence of Jesus. That my brothers and sisters, is beyond enough. Amen?
Be blessed and be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy
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