Have you seen these advertisements which offer permanent pearly whites if you just let the dentist put screws in your jaw bone? What about the services which will instantly draw off all the fat you have spent years accumulating—implying that your skin will automatically firm up and not wrinkle. Any number of procedures offer to correct your vision and the shelves are filled with anti-aging serums promising youthful skin.
Would any of these things be popular if we were not focused on transforming our external appearances into something different? Better?
The most amazing transformation I have ever seen is that of a caterpillar forming a cocoon and becoming a butterfly. We have black swallowtail butterflies in our area and the females lay their eggs in our parsley plants. The caterpillars are voracious eaters and can strip a plant of its leaves in a day. At some prescribed time they attach themselves to a stick, cloak themselves in a green batman-looking cape and trust themselves to the faintest of suspending-threads to rest. Within a couple of weeks they emerge, totally transformed with wings and legs and antenna you would never suspect possible from a caterpillar. They have changed completely—from the inside out.
It is astonishing to see a similar change when we allow the Lord to transform us from the inside out. We tend to focus on the inner ugliness (as we see it) created by our wounds and pain. We do not believe that He can do anything to transform us into someone who is beautiful. But look in the eyes of one person who has allowed the Lord to heal their wounds and you will experience a bit of the freedom that transformation brings. I believe the Lord offers us the promise of hope, through the incredible re-forming of the butterfly, if we are willing to trust Him.
Blessing,
Annette
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Looking with New Eyes 