Caterpillar Or Worm?

 Caterpillar Or Worm?

 “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-‬3 NLT

Lent is an exciting time when we see it as a time for us to accept God’s invitation to have a deeper and closer relationship with Him. It is not a time to win favour with God through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and giving. It is a time to grow in our identity as the beloved children of God. The good news is that Jesus died and rose from the dead not to make bad people good but to raise the spiritually dead and make them alive in Christ. Jesus came to change us from being worms who are destined for death into caterpillars who will become spiritual butterflies with eternal life.

We are all infected by a more serious virus than the COVID 19 virus  - the virus of sin. Our hearts are hardened by the sins of pride and envy and the good news that we have been raised to a new life in Christ cannot take root in our hearts. In the second week of Lent, I am led to reflect on the stony soil in the parable of the Sower. The seed sown in a stony soil  grew quickly but rapidly wilted under the sun as it did not have deep roots. Jesus told the parable to warn the people of the need to grow deep roots of faith to face the storms of life.

We may listen and even respond eagerly to God’s messages but unless the stony soil in our hearts is changed, God’s Word will wither and we remain worms instead of becoming caterpillars. We will see ourselves like Bildad the Shuhite:

 “In comparison, people are maggots; we mortals are mere worms.” Job 25:6, NLT

Without deep roots, our faith in God’s love is easily swept away by temptations, trials and tribulations. Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread in the wilderness. Likewise we are tempted to seek God for blessings of health, healing and wealth instead of cultivating a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. We want God to get rid of our problems or to cure our illnesses instead of seeking the grace of God to overcome our problems and heal our souls.

How we listen to God’s Word reflect the condition of our heart. When our heart is stony, we will be like worms who have no hope of any transformation. We may respond to God’s Word with self justification instead of repentance. When our hearts are hardened, we will not turn to God for healing:

“Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.” Isaiah 6:10 NLT

It is only when our heart is good soil that we will feed on God’s Word like caterpillars feeding on leaves. The chrysalis stage represents the tough times of our lives which are our times of transformation. Temptations, trials and tribulations become a time to die to self and the beginning of our transformation into butterflies in the chrysalis or pupa stage. Instead of asking God to change our circumstances, we will pray for God to open our eyes to see the opportunities in such times for us to be changed. And it is in such times that we will experience the miracles of healing.

Lent is a time for us to prepare our hearts for the time in the chrysalis - to strengthen our faith and to deepen our relationship with our Heavenly Father as we wait for the Holy Spirit to transform us into God’s new creation. When we are caterpillars, spiritual disciplines will  not be onerous - we will hunger and thirst for them so that we can enter into the chrysalis stage and look forwards to our transformation into the butterfly stage. Then we will be able to understand the truth that “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

There is a worm and a caterpillar in each one of us. In this season of Lent, let us starve the worm by confessing our pride and envy and feed the caterpillar in prayer and meditation on the Word of God. Let us focus on the realities of heaven - for Christ has raised us to a new life with him.