Emerging from the Chrysalis

 

(Please, read “Flexing our Wings” from my previous post first.)

Union with Christ Series: “We are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ in God.” - Colossians 3:3

The emergence of the caterpillar from the chrysalis as a butterfly holds many correlations to our own emergence from carnality to spirituality. Since we are used to crawling around in the earthly realm of life through our own efforts, we hesitate to trust our self to God’s leading and guidance in this new spiritual kingdom. We are afraid to take flight and to rely on His Spirit. We struggle with the concept of letting go of the control over our life. We falter in our decision to totally trust our life to the mercies of God.

We continue to attempt to maintain control over many areas of our existence, until the circumstances of life come crashing down around us. In utter defeat, we let go and completely surrender our will to the Spirit of God. As we see the light of God’s grace, we feel drawn to respond to His invitation to finally die to our carnal self and to experience a totally new life in Him (1 Peter 2:24; Galatians 5:16). We slowly recognize our self as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). In our success as surrendered Saints of God, we face the world from a new perspective.

We hear the testimony of other people who took this leap of faith. They were blown by God’s Spirit into the realm of the Heavenlies, which most people only glimpse from the earthly realm. They tell us that the only way to fully live is to completely die to our own desires, ambitions and goals, and to hide our life with Christ in God (Luke 9:23; Colossians 3:3). When we follow their lead, we suddenly feel the urge to spread our wings and to trust our self to the winds of the Spirit. We look forward to total freedom in Christ. Soon we flap our wings and take off into the unknown.

Prior to Salvation, we lived as exemplary children of Satan. He used our body and soul to express his nature and agenda in this world. Our spirit was dead in Adam’s sin (Ephesians 2:1). Now that we came to faith in Christ, Jesus uses our body, soul and Born Again spirit to accomplish God’s work in the earth. We drift on the currents of the Spirit and experience a totally new relationship with our God and the world around us. We look down into the realm of self-centered flesh, where we once squirmed like a worm, and we are amazed at our former foolishness.

We stop resisting the desires that God places in our heart, and we soar into spiritual heights that we never imagined existed. We forsake our carnal striving to keep the Law, which was once such a precious shelter for us. We commit to live a surrendered life to the will of God. We count our self dead to sin, and alive to God in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11-12). We leave the world of stress and struggle forever, because this world no longer matters to us. We have an eternal perspective now that turns our former worries and stress into petty concerns.

We can hold a funeral for our flesh and celebrate our new life in Christ. Old Testament Joseph is a good example to us. He was his father’s favorite son, only to be sold by his brothers. He was used as a slave and worked his way up to a high position of authority, only to be sent to prison because of a lie. He was given authority in prison and interpreted dreams for his inmates, only to be forgotten when they were released. Joseph had plenty of opportunities to learn contentment, as Paul did, whether he was exalted or struck down (Philippians 4:11-13).

Joseph, Paul and a host of Saints before us give us an example of how to die to the desires of our flesh and to accept with joy the path God chooses for our life. They learned Godly contentment (1 Timothy 6:6-8). God flooded their life with His peace, which surpasses human understanding (Philippians 4:7). He gives us joy in the face of debilitating circumstances. We still have times that overwhelm our soul with mourning, even Jesus felt this way (Mark 14:34). However, we trust in God’s faithfulness, knowing He will work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, as we rest in our confidence in Your faithfulness, we enter into Your eternal rest (Hebrews 4:11). We cease from our striving in this life. We rest in the assurance that You are changing us from glory to glory. We trust You to faithfully fulfill the promises of Your Word. We determine to live and move only under the direction of Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

The mystery of the gospel of grace is Christ living in us, reflecting the glory of God in our lives and His joy in our hearts, regardless of our circumstances.
- Colossians 1:27



Thank you, Mike, for the use of your lovely photo.
https://www.facebook.com/MegaPixelMike

Flexing Our Wings

“Our life is hidden with Christ in God.” - Colossians 3:3

In the various stages of a butterfly, we can see a beautiful analogy of our death, burial and resurrection in Christ. Our growth in spiritual awareness finds an interesting parallel in the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly. We come into this world selfishly devouring everything this civilization has to offer. Even if we codependently care for the needs of everyone we meet, we trust in our goodness rather than in Christ’s sacrifice (Ephesians 2:8-10). We continue in this meager existence until we realize our depraved state and call out to God for Salvation.

Many of us repent of our willful disobedience; but then, in the flesh we vow to spend the rest of our life in strict adherence to God’s law in a regimen of self-effort. We encase our self in the silken threads of our chrysalis of scriptural mandates. Forsaking the gift of grace, which God so freely bestowed on us at salvation, we seek to reach perfection through the Law (Galatians 3:1-3; 5:3). We feel the restriction of the shackles that we spin, but we continue to wrap the glossy threads of legalism around our life until we are completely bound up in the dark.

Fears and anxieties, which we successfully evaded in the past, begin to haunt us day and night. We feel changes taking place within our innermost being that we do not understand. Imagine being a caterpillar. Your score of chubby, little legs change into six long, skinny ones. Your round supple body shrinks to a fraction of it normal size. Suddenly wings protrude from your back. They seem to be useless appendages that will only be an extra burden to carry through life – if indeed there will be life after this dreadfully dark time of confinement.

We cry out to God in desperation, but He seems beyond our reach and unable to hear our muffled cries from within the chrysalis of the law and dead works that surrounds us. In actuality, He does hear us, but it is not time for Him to intervene. Our nature is quite changed by the power of Christ’s blood, but we do not yet appreciate this fact (2 Corinthians 3:18). The chrysalis of dead works is our prison (Hebrews 9:14). However, it also provides a certain sense of security, which we are loath to surrender.

Eventually we get fed up with our imprisonment, and we start the struggle for spiritual freedom. Slowly, we see daylight as we methodically emerge from the chrysalis of bondage to the Law and works (Galatians 5:1; Hebrews 6:1). Our personal struggle to free our self from these dead works equips us for our existence outside of our chrysalis. It is a vital part of the spiritual process. The exertion brings us to the ultimate realization of our utter helplessness and desperate need for Christ to live in and through us. We hesitate, poised on the edge of His new world. (To be continued :)

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for opening Your arms and welcoming us to come to You. We find rest in You, freedom in You and abundant life in You. We realize that this life of faith does not entirely exclude works (James 2:18). However, we only work in obedience to the promptings of Your Spirit within us (Romans 8:2). You set us free from the law of sin and death, so that we can live in constant victory through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, as your ambassadors in this world (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Thought for the Day:
As we look at where we came from and remember our bondage to the Law and self-effort from which God freed us, we find peace and joy unspeakable and full of glory. – 1 Peter 1:8