I was working at the science center during the Butterfly Adventure event. Each room in the building featured some butterfly related activity, from crafts to experiments, to simple pictures on the walls. The room I was in that morning was filled with the butterflies life cycle. (Okay, actually the specimens on display were moths.) One table held big fat caterpillars, another displayed tiny eggs and old cocoons. The last table held a tall, mesh, pop up cage filled with freshly hatched luna moths.
It was a fairly quiet morning, so when a family with four kids entered the room they had my full attention. I watched as the dad noticed the butterfly displays and walked over to them, seizing an opportunity.
"Hey, come look at this," he said, gathering his children close. "Look at these caterpillars." Picking up one of the spiky green larvas, he continued. "Pretty soon these guys are going to wrap themselves up and change into butterflies. It's just like how God changes us. The Bible says He makes us into a new creature.." The dad continued to explain the verse for a moment, his kids smiling and nodding. As soon as he finished, they were off staring at the other animals. They seemed totally unaffected by the lesson, but I couldn't help thinking about it.
Though the analogy of the butterfly is often used when explaining the "new creation" verse, I never considered how perfect the example is.
When the caterpillar crawls into its cocoon, it doesn't die and have another being pop into existence in its place. Instead, the larva is changed; every fiber in its body is transformed into a new shape and appearance. it hatches as a new creature, though it is still the same being. The butterfly is the final form of the caterpillar, not a separate life.
See, we all can agree that when a butterfly lays an egg, a caterpillar is what will hatch. There is no way that the egg can crack open and have a butterfly come out, and skip over the wormlike step. The caterpillar has to come first but we all know the butterfly is what it is supposed to become.
Think of this in regards to the spiritual condition. Sin is our inescapable caterpillar stage. We are born into this world as sinners, unable to hatch as anything else. For a period of time we go through life unaware of our state. Though it is our fate due to the fall, sin was never the life that was prepared for us. God has made plans and preparations so that we can be transformed into what He wants us to be: His children.
When we become Christians we aren't shedding off the core of who we are in order to be replaced by perfect people. Instead, every fiber of our soul is slowly being transformed into what we were always meant to be. The old appearance and habits no longer fit with who we are as we grow into maturity. Sin loses its hold on us. We become the people we were created to be.
We shed off our caterpillar skin and trade it in for butterfly wings.
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