Every Butterfly was once a Caterpillar

The caterpillar bears no resemblance to the butterfly. Unless we had known the wonder of the process that turns one into the other, we would never have guessed they were even remotely related. One is earth bound. The other can freely fly. One is drab and ugly. The other is colourful and beautiful. Yet, it is the creative hand of Almighty God that makes this miraculous change. God is good at that. Turning ugly into beauty. Turning mourning into dancing. Turning sinners into saints. Turning earth-bound creatures into heaven-bound creatures. 

“If any man is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold all things become new.” - 2 Cor. 5:17. When a man or woman comes to Christ there is a definite change. Our character, our temperament, our vocabulary, our attitude towards others, all change. As the hymn writer, George Wade Robinson, so eloquently puts it, “Heaven above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green; Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen:Birds with gladder wings o’erflow, Flow’rs with deeper beauties shine, Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.”1Cor.6:11 Paul writing to the church at Corinth, gave a list of sinful, unrighteous men, who could not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he added, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 

John Newton, that sinful, blasphemous, slave trader, who had a transformational encounter with Christ, became a great soul winner and hymn writer. His most well-known and most-loved hymn, Amazing Grace, says it perfectly. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” ‘sinful caterpillars’ turned into ‘saintly butterflies’ Every believer has a testimony of a changed life. Some have been so dramatically changed that their lives bear no resemblance to what they once were.

Saul of Tarsus went from persecutor to preacher. From Saul to Paul. In one unforgettable encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road, he was changed in an instant.  From a prosecutor and a persecutor of the Church to the greatest proponent of the Gospel the world had ever seen. He humbly declared, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain…” - 1 Cor. 15:10

- Pastor David Goudy