Joann Burkholder

The Metamorphosis of Our Lives Joann Burkholder

Our life with Jesus is not about behaving in a certain way, but is instead a passionate pursuit of a growing, intimate, beholding of God's glory, as we learn to live in His metamorphose of us into His perfect child. An earthbound caterpillar has multiple difficult stages of metamorphic transformation as it develops into its final stage as a beautiful butterfly. During this process, its body dies, yet it continues to be fed as it goes through each stage of metamorphosis. It is rebuilding a new self. The struggle in the cocoon strengthens and prepares it for flight. The caterpillar in its final form emerges, having grown wings and changed into a heavenward flying butterfly. It is a newly created creature. This is a small, yet amazing example of us as believers in Jesus, struggling in this world, in our life-long process of learning to live as a new creation in Him. We are born again, accepted, holy, forgiven, complete, and His workmanship. God uses all our tears, heartaches, and situations to draw our wandering souls to Him. We are being gently and patiently directed toward our metamorphosis. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17). And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrew 11:6). You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). Our struggling gap is our depravity between what we know and believe in our mind and the choices we make. Life on earth will continue to be a time of failure and growth as we learn to rest in God's security and satisfaction, pressing on until we soar to heaven. Then we will be with Him eternally victorious, because of His love, grace-filled free gift, and work in us.