I have been documenting the transformational process of a caterpillar in my garden for the past couple of weeks and today - to my delight - I saw the final product. This caterpillar started out as a brightly coloured, multi-patterned, hairy beauty that ate half of my banyan tree. I tolerated its gigantic appetite for my leaves, because I was so curious to see how it would turn out. After a couple of days, it spun a little home and transformed into the cutest little pupa, complete with a smiley face. Again, a couple of days went by and then finally this morning I saw the majestic, fluffy white banyan tussock moth.
As I stood there amazed at this transformation, I sensed the Lord saying, “Don’t box yourself in what you looked like or experienced in the past, nor by what you look like or experience now.” That really blessed me!
If we allow the Lord to do His wondrous work in our lives, we will be transformed from one glory to another. Each of this moth’s life cycles had good times and difficult times and so it is with us, but if we let the Holy Spirit work his renewal in us, all that stretching and growing will produce one beautiful and exciting stage after another. What comes to mind is this passage in the book of Romans chapter 12 verse 2 Do not be shaped by (conformed to; pressed into a mold by) this world (age); instead be changed within (transformed) by a new way of thinking (or changing the way you think; the renewing of your mind). Then… .” Like this moth, there is no trace of the old; even though it is still the same moth, the old and new look completely different. We are encouraged to make new, Christ-like thought pathways about ourselves while we keep walking away from old harmful thoughts and walk in new, right thoughts.
Even though we go through so many transitions in life, we are still cut from the Rock. Isaiah 51:2 says, “Listen to me, you who chase after righteousness, you who passionately pursue the Lord. Look back to Abraham, the rock from which you were cut, to Sarah, the quarry from which you were dug, and remember what I did for them.” (TPT). What God is saying here is that look where you came from and how He blessed you. We have it even better now that we are a new creation through Jesus who is the Rock from which we are made. Can you imagine what HE can do for you?! Your position in Christ is much greater than your condition you might be in or might have been in. He can transform EVERYTHING. In fact, if we let Him, He WILL transform us because then we look more like Him. What a powerful thought that we can be like Him if we just change the way we think about ourselves and our Beloved! Hallelujah, forget what is past and let Him transform you into the perfect you!