NEW BEGINNING

As children, many of us would have learned about the amazing transformation of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. The ability of the caterpillar is limited. They can only crawl and not fly. Caterpillar are stubby, fleshy and some are hairy. Your life can be like a caterpillar today. But the Lord God who created us, can transform our life and make us be a blessing to so many people around us. All we must do is submit our self in God’s hands.

To become a butterfly, the caterpillar must fall apart completely, decompose down to its very essence, and literally dies. In the same way for us to go to the next level, there are certain things in us that should die, in other words our flesh must die. The Bible tells us in Galatians 5:16 “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Some of the things that are needed to be put to death are mentioned in the Bible. Colossians 3: 5-10 says “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

Ephesians 4:22-24 says “ You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” You may feel it’s really hard to get out of some bad habits or addictions, you may have a desire to be free of them all but find it hard to break free. Many times, you may hate the life that you are living. without real peace and joy. But the Good news is, when you ask Jesus, He will give you His strength and His grace to overcome all this. Matthew 19:26b says, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. You can talk with Him as you talk to your friend, and ask Him to deliver you from this destructive lifestyle. The Bible says when we ae in Christ we are the new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:17  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Next, for a caterpillar to become a Butterfly, it must shed its outer skin 4 or 5 times. We must leave behind certain things for our life to be transformed. Once the caterpillar sheds its skin it does not carry the shed skin after it transforms to a butterfly. In the same way we must leave behind our past, our regrets, our mistakes and move forward.The Bible says in Isaiah “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland”. You are not created to live condemned, defeated, depressed, unworthy,Guilty,You are more than a conquer. You may remember the things that happened in the past again and again and sometimes we condemn ourselves, but God wants you to forget that, don’t dwell in the past. I John 3:20 says "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things"

·       You are created for a greater purpose.

·       You can do great things through Christ who strengthens you.