Month: January 2019

There’s a miracle happening in my kitchen.

My daughter found a caterpillar in the driveway the other day. She decked out a mason jar with rocks and twigs and leaves and brought him inside. We fully intended to let him go after a brief visit, but he had other ideas in mind. He spun a cocoon and made himself comfortable for an extended stay. Google says he might be here all winter.

From the outside, it doesn’t look like there’s anything alive in the jar. But inside that cocoon, away from prying eyes, there’s a transformation taking place. That little caterpillar is changing into something entirely different. Not just a new and improved version of itself, but a completely new creation.

And you know what? It’s a messy process. The caterpillar liquefies. Yes, that’s right. It becomes caterpillar soup. If you’ve ever seen a butterfly emerge from its cocoon, you may have noticed drops of reddish-brown liquid. That’s called meconium and it’s the leftover part of the caterpillar that the butterfly didn’t need anymore. From this melted glop, a butterfly forms. A butterfly! Colors and patterns. Delicate wings and antennae. Absolutely nothing like its former self.

The Bible says that “those who become Christians become new person. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Several translations use the phrase “if anyone is in Christ”. The word chrysalis refers to a protective covering, a sheltered state. What if when we enter into a relationship with Christ, He becomes our protective covering, a safe place to be a mess and to be made new?

Like the caterpillar, believers in Christ undergo a complete metamorphosis. We don’t melt, but there may be days when we feel like a soggy wreck. Maybe that’s just part of the process. There are things that need to be changed, and there are things that need to be gotten rid of, that we don’t need any longer. “There must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness – righteous, holy, and true” (Ephesians 4:23-24).

So if you feel like you’re caterpillar soup, take heart. Miracles can happen in your kitchen too. This isn’t the end – it’s just the beginning. There’s a whole lot of good stuff happening under the shelter of One who loves you. And when it’s finished, just think of the beauty that will be revealed.

Just last week we turned to a new day in a new month in a new year, full of the limitless promise of a blank page and a fresh start. So many of us began the year resolved to write a new chapter, to live a different story than the year before.

But maybe one week in it already feels like the same old story. Oh you want to begin again.  It’s just there’s a weight the size of a mountain holding you back. Keeping you from the fresh start you long for. You can’t see any way over it or around it and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon, no matter what the calendar says.

If you’re facing an impossible mountain, take heart.

You were made for this. You were made for this exact moment, these exact circumstances. Not to climb the mountain, but to conquer it. We can try to climb the mountain and it’s going to wear us out and beat us up and eat our lunch. Or we can say to the mountain in front of us, “Throw yourself into the sea” (Mark 11:23). Do you really have the power to tell a mountain what to do? On your own, absolutely not. But the Bible says that if you belong to God, then His Spirit lives in you, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11). What chance does a mountain stand against the Creator?

You can be sure the mountain isn’t only in your way. It’s in the way of a lot of other people, too. And it needs to be moved. God invites each of us to share in His road construction project. We have the opportunity to level the high places and fill in the low places and make a straight highway to lead people home (Isaiah 40:4).

Maybe you’re thinking that you missed your opportunity. It’s too late and whatever you say or do now isn’t going to make any difference. If Satan can’t thwart the purposes of God, what makes you think you’re powerful enough to do so?  So often we doubt our power to do the things of God, but not our power to mess up the things of God. That just isn’t how it works. Our power is only from the Spirit of God living within us. Without Him, we’re powerless. We can’t climb the mountain and we can’t move the mountain, but we also certainly can’t make a mountain.

While insurmountable for you, this mountain is not a problem to the Creator. It doesn’t stand in His way, trip Him up, or slow Him down. It’s not an obstacle preventing Him from fulfilling His purposes. It doesn’t discourage Him and He isn’t afraid of it. The earth is His footstool (Isaiah 66:1) – were He to stride across earth’s surface, your mountain wouldn’t cause Him to falter or change His path.

In His great compassion, God sees how we tremble before the mountain. How we are unable to surmount it. How it causes us to fear and to fret. And He is so kind, so gracious, He offers to remove the mountain from the path if only we will ask Him. This is how He cares for us, for you and for me. He smooths our path not because it’s of any benefit to Him – it makes no difference to Him – but because He loves us and is concerned for us.

Look who’s here: Mountain-Shaper! Wind-Maker! He laid out the whole plot before Adam. He brings everything out of nothing, like dawn out of darkness. He strides across the alpine ridges. His name is God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.  Amos 4:13 MSG