“What you have done is put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new self, one that grows in knowledge as it is formed anew in the image of its Creator.”—Colossians 3:9b-10
I don’t know about you, but the Lord has been showing me that we are entering a season of transformation – at least I am. My pastor even confirmed what the Lord had been telling me all along when we preached “A Season of Change” last Sunday. As believers, the Lord calls to us to grow in our relationship and walk with Christ so that we can discern the times. Have you been discerning the times?
“Jesus said again to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say that rain is coming – and so it does. When the wind blows from the south, you say it’s going to be hot – and so it is. You hypocrites! If you can interpret the portents of earth and sky, why can’t you interpret the present time?”—Luke 12:54-56
For the past few weeks, there’ve been butterflies everywhere and in the most unlikely places. You can be driving 70 miles an hour down I-95, and you will see butterflies flying on the highway. Butterflies are everywhere right now. Have you noticed them? You can even see all of the cocoon sacs in the trees.
Here is the spiritual wisdom I’m gleaning from these observations. It’s time to put to death the old person and put on the new one in Jesus Christ. So many of us are holding onto things that are not of God and are holding onto our pasts. God is saying it is time to let those things go and put on Christ. It’s time for the former things to pass away so you can become new. It’s time to clothe ourselves with the righteousness of God. In other words, it’s time to change. Look at the example of the butterfly. The butterfly wasn’t always a butterfly. It starts out as a caterpillar that crawls on the ground. Its living conditions are different in the beginning. Its abilities are different. Its access is different. There are many physical differences between a caterpillar and a butterfly. Imagine the things a caterpillar must let go in order to transform. It must enter into a cocoon for a season and prepare to enter the unknown as a butterfly. However, despite all of the sacrifices the caterpillar must make, retreating for a season and stepping out into the unknown by letting go of the former things, look at what it gains. Beautiful wings that enable it to fly and reach places and go distances it never could before its transformation. As a butterfly the once caterpillar gains a new life.
This is a word for believers in this season, and I’ll be the first to say God is speaking to me. There are definitely behaviors, attitudes and things in my life that I need to let go if I’m going to go where God wants me to go.
There are places God wants to take us. There is a freedom in Jesus Christ God wants us to have, i.e., wings. There are things God wants to show us at levels that we can’t reach unless we gain wings to fly. It’s time to change. The first thing we must do as believers is to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). We must let the same mind that was in Jesus be in us (Philippians 2:5). Let the former things go. Allow God to transform you so God can take you to higher levels of faith and living.
(BTW, at the time I was trying to upload this post to my blog, the login page kept giving me an “access denied” message. I’ve been sitting on this message for at least two weeks. Clearly the devil doesn’t want it to get out. We have already overcome however through Jesus Christ!)