2 Peter 1:3, NLT: “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life….
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I remember the day as if it were yesterday. I was so proud of myself, for I had seemingly learned the joy of finding the right words for the right occasion. Meeting the gaze of my twinkle-eyed eight-year-old, I offered those “right” words to him as he held up a used drink bottle for me to examine. Something about the way he held the bottle, as if it were a prized possession, caused me to hold back the urge to remind him of our many discussions about germs and the dangers of handling discarded refuse.
Not wanting to shatter his obvious enthusiasm, I took the bottle from him and scrutinized its contents. There at the bottom of the transparent plastic was what appeared to be a clump of dirt mixed with droplets of liquid.
“What is this?” I asked.
With pride, he beamed, “A cocoon.”
I was doubtful that the clump I was looking at was actually a cocoon; even if it were, I doubted it could survive the conditions my son had exposed it to. But I kept my peace and said nothing. In fact, against my better judgment, I gave in to his many requests to keep it. The dirty bottle became the centerpiece of my breakfast counter, its contents the focal point of our conversations until I, too, became engrossed in hopeful anticipation of the expected butterfly.
As the unchanging nature of the cocoon offered no further stimulus for our discussions, our enthusiasm eventually diminished, and the children and I found other things to occupy our attention.
That was until a few mornings later, when I was beckoned by movement within our centerpiece. It was a butterfly! It had emerged. Despite the conditions, it had survived and now needed to be released. Eagerly, I woke the boys so they could see the miracle that had unfolded. Our excitement reverberated throughout the house as we gathered the tools needed to free the butterfly from its place of captivity.While carefully cutting open the bottle, I noticed that the wings of the butterfly were crumpled and limp. Come on, I prayed, you have come too far not to make it.
In spite of my prayers, the butterfly lay motionless for what seemed an eternity. Eventually, however, the sun aided in drying its wings, and soon the butterfly took to the air.
As I watched it fly away, I wondered: Who taught this butterfly to fly?
Prior to emerging as a butterfly, it had been a caterpillar. Hadn’t it? Even supposing that the butterfly had somehow retained the memories and experiences of its former caterpillar nature, those would not have aided in this new endeavor. Quite the contrary; those memories would have been of little benefit for life in the sky.
So again, I ask: how does a butterfly know how to fly?
The matter so intrigued me that I searched for the answer. Research indicates that a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis with a strong muscle in its thorax which forces its wings up and down. God gave the butterfly everything it would need for life, built right into its very being.
Just as He did for the butterfly, so He has also done for us. God has given us as Christians everything we need for our life’s purpose, built within us. I believe that the Christian emerges from their cocoon—their past life—with a “strong muscle” that can move them to do what they are called to do.
The Holy Spirit is the Christian’s strong muscle. The only difference is that He will not force us to do anything. However, if we allow Him to operate in us and through us, He will enable us to do things we would not otherwise be capable of doing.
So much for our excuses: I was never taught. I don’t know how. It seems too hard. Those won’t work anymore.
You have come too far not to make it. There is a strong muscle within you. So fly.
Fly.
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