The Apostle Paul was a very colorful man in Christian ministry. He made tents for a living but wrote Scripture & raised the dead in his spare time. He figuratively stormed the gates of hell and literally paid a visit to heaven (before his life was even over!). He planted churches, plotted missions, and pioneered a movement. He’s remembered 2,000 years later and spoken of all over the world. Aside of Christ, few men are as spiritually vibrant as Paul was.

This wasn’t always the case, however. Paul (formerly named “Saul”), used to be a far uglier man. He spent much of his young life huddled in and around Jerusalem. Feeding his intellect & ego on Judaism, he developed into a Pharisee. Growing fat with pride, he persecuted the church and took nourishment by consuming the spiritual life of others. At last, having become fully encased in dead religion, his life came to an end (that particular phase of it anyway).

RADICAL REFORMATION

At the age of 30, Paul underwent a fundamental change that he describes as “metamorphosis” (taken from the original Greek word “metamorphousthe” found in Romans 12:2). Metamorphosis is the inevitable process by which a butterfly proves itself to be more than an ordinary worm. Like a caterpillar, Saul had to become a new creature entirely. His mind, his lifestyle, his future, and even his name needed to change. Saul couldn’t become the Apostle that God ordained him to be until his old life as a Pharisee was fully terminated.

Christians are one of the few creatures on earth that have the capacity to “morph” like a caterpillar does. The change seen in the Apostle Paul is proof enough. The unfortunate difference between caterpillars and Christians, however, is that caterpillars don’t need to be coaxed into the cocoon. Christians on the other hand, usually always do.

RADICALLY RESISTANT

Anticipating this reluctance, Paul (as a newborn ‘butterfly’), wrote a letter to his “caterpillar kinfolk” in Rome. In that letter, he “beseeches” them to surrender their bodies to the only process that will, in fact, convert them from the low-life drudgery of religion, into a “new creature” altogether. As Paul saw it, there were countless Christians still crawling around like larva when they could’ve been flying by now.  

Of all those born into God’s kingdom, few will ever reach full maturity 

With that in mind, let’s note a few similarities between what we find in the animal kingdom, and what we know of God’s kingdom:  

1: Caterpillars never think of flying, they concentrate mostly on eating. Worried about little more than basic survival, their short time on earth is marked by a repeating pattern of eat and rest, eat and rest. Their life is dominated by their appetite. For caterpillars it’s just a phase, but for many Christians, it’s their entire lifespan. Perhaps this is what Paul had in mind when he lamented to the Philippians, “Their god is their belly”.

2: Out of every 100 butterfly eggs, only 1 (maybe 2) will ever fulfill their destiny. The rest will do the same thing day after day, until the enemy swallows them up. They’ll never reproduce. They’ll never go where they could’ve gone. And, perhaps most tragic of all, they’ll never know what it’s like to fly. As Scripture predicts, “Many will depart from the faith”. In other words, for every lovely butterfly you see there are 98 others who never made it.

3: Metamorphosis is the ultimate test of one’s trust in their Creator. With no idea of what comes after chrysalis (the cocoon stage), caterpillars instinctively wrap themselves into a homemade coffin to die anyway. They don’t question God’s plan, they don’t weigh the ‘pro’s & con’s’ of it, and they certainly don’t rebel against their Lord. Instead, they intuitively make their shell and die, as if they were eager to do so. Christian’s treat metamorphosis like it’s the end of their life, but caterpillars rely upon the truth: “This is a trustworthy saying: If we die, we will also live” (II Tim.2:11).   

RADICALLY RARE

These are but a few general comparisons between caterpillars and Christians. But the truth is hard to miss: Of all those born into God’s kingdom, very few will ever reach full maturity.

There are countless Christians crawling around like larva when they could’ve been flying by now

For fear of metamorphosis, most believers will opt to crawl through life, and then die with a mouthful of milkweed. Few Christians will ever put on the new colors offered by Christ (Ro.13:14), taste the sweetness of spiritual nectar (Ps.34:8), or rise above the worldliness of their contemporaries (Col.3:1).

DEAR CATERPILLAR, God has offered you a kaleidoscopic life! A fresh start, full of wonder and opportunity, far beyond your present imagination! “I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God”, embrace metamorphosis!