The Butterfly.. Thank you Lord

Yesterday is gone, and I’m glad about that.  Sometimes it seems when a truth is opened up to me and I can see a new thing differently than before, a testing of my faith follows that truth on subject of the very thing I’ve been shown.

There is so much worry in the mind – like a constant conversation taking place between our ears of checklists and deadlines and questions that we seek to silence by grasping at solutions – formulating plans that match every “what if” that comes through our thoughts.  I battle against many “what ifs”.. and the solutions sometime just aren’t there.  It’s like a debate of knowing my hands are tied and my life is subject to the fullness of the will of God, yet trying to seek answers of my own that will never work out… and led back to seeking Christ – the source of all things – the things that comfort us and bring us inner joy, as well as the things that humble us and bring us to heartbreak… for our ultimate good.

Yet fear and worry is very telling of the subjects that we often reverence in fear, and the word of God reveals that this kind of fear is not of the Lord.  Fear is a spirit – as written in 2 Timothy 1:7.  He says God did not give us the spirit of fear.  Do I believe that means that it’s given from a source that’s not in line with Jesus?  Yes, as the Lord said to take captive our thoughts, along with countless warnings to “not fear things of this world…. but to only fear the Lord.

Mathew 6:4 gives instruction to us – “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”  This is a hard directive to swallow if I really grasp what is being said.  Jesus is saying – Don’t think about these things!  What things does He not want playing inside of our mind?  He doesn’t want us to think about what we will eat, drink or what we will be clothed with…  the basic necessities to living here on Earth are not supposed to be of concern to us.  He follows this by saying that God knows what we need.  And then He gives the answer – IF we seek the Kingdom first, then all things will be added unto us.

At first read over these scriptures, I get a picture of what my carnal mind wants to believe in interpretation of Jesus’ warning and promise here.  That if we live a Christian life, we will be blessed with an abundance to satisfy our needs.  Yet I know that “all things” have nothing to do with the abundance in this place, but the source of all things.. JESUS.  He is the “all things” that will be added unto us.  And if I keep reading, the carnal desires are again not in line with the next directive – “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” 

This is a guarantee that we will have problems.  Not only is he saying, don’t think about tomorrow.. don’t worry about tomorrow – He’s also saying in the same thought, you’re going to have some issues tomorrow…. count on it.  Evil is going to be there.  Problems will arise, but do not think about it today.

I watched a short teaching by John Piper recently and it was just beautiful the breaking down of this daily grace that’s given to us – only sufficient for today, (not tomorrow).  And I can see how the carnal mind wars against the plan that the Lord laid out for our journey here.  We so easily let time rule over our thoughts because we want tomorrow’s manna.  Isn’t that what the Israelite’s faced in the wilderness?  They were given daily manna and they were given daily struggles but God got them through just one day at a time.  Yet they wanted more than what He gave – they wanted security for tomorrow.. instant deliverance..  They wanted the finish line without the journey… They wanted the promised land without having to travel through the wilderness.  And I thank how easy it would be for God to just deliver them to the promised land without any effort, if that were His plan… He would’ve done it.

What I’m seeing more and more is that God can do absolutely anything He wants, whenever He wants.  He can change our circumstances in an instant.  So why doesn’t He?  I mean, if God’s definition of salvation was to pick us up and give us everything our carnal hearts desire, He’d just do it, right?  There would be no hunger or sickness or struggle or pain or death or loss or trials in this life.  So what is God after?  A people to call His own….  A people that can dwell in His presence.  He’s not into changing our circumstances, (which He can so easily do), He’s into changing US… –  a process that’s sometimes so difficult and uncomfortable.

I’m sitting on the patio and a butterfly just came right up in front of me and made a few circles by my face… and I’m reminded of what the Lord shared with me about the butterfly months back when I first made this website and placed the butterfly as the image of Broken is Beautiful…. I’m reminded of the destination –  “a new creature”…  I’m reminded that caterpillars have to wallow in the dirt, day in and day out until its time for them to die to themselves.. they stop eating and they curl up in a ball and digest their own flesh to form a cocoon… and then that creature that looks like its left for dead, breaks free from that cocoon, spreads its new wings and flies.  I see the work of Jesus on the cross in the demonstration of the butterfly and it’s a beautiful demonstration of the process we are in.

If you’re outward man is facing struggles, like so many of us are…. if your heart is broken or your dreams seem shattered… if your problems seem too big to face and your worries seem to never end..  Well, I can relate to you my friend.. and I just want to say this from the deepest part of my heart that wars against the darkest parts of my carnal mind…  The gift of Jesus is a dwelling of HIM inside of us, changing our inner creature into something beautiful, as the outward creature decays.  The outward process of this change in us is never comfortable, that causes the inner man to cast away the desires of a broken world and only SEEK HIS FACE.  We are on a journey and the blessed hope of the finishing of our faith is HIS WORK.. and HE promises to complete it….  This caterpillar might be losing its strength, starving and weakened on the outside… but INSIDE… the seed of Jesus is growing into something so beautiful that our minds can’t even comprehend the gift.

Father, I thank you that your process has begun in so many of your children, as our hearts are set back onto seeking you, fearing you and chasing after your SON in us.. and we learn more each day that your son IS THE ONLY LIFE there is and ever was.. not a temporary fix but an ETERNAL promise.  I thank you that though we wallow in dirt, that is not the ending of us – it’s just the journey of us and that when the AUTHOR, JESUS CHRIST finishes our faith, the inner creature you are creating (Him inside of us) will break out of this cocoon to spread His wings and fly with our Lord and Savior.

“Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:7-10)

“In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:10)

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19-21)

“When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:29-30)

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:12)