Metamorphosis

“Miss Oldcastle told me once that she could not take her eyes off a butterfly that was flitting about in the church all the time I was speaking of the resurrection of the dead. I told the people that in Greek there was one word for the soul and for a butterfly—psyche; The butterfly is the type in nature, and made to the end, amongst other ends, of being such a type--of the resurrection of the human body.” —George MacDonald

Butterflies begin as caterpillars, though some would insist that they begin as butterflies, evoking the ancient enigma of the chicken and the egg.  Generally, however, we think first of the caterpillar, those homely, creepy—crawly, earth-bound worms with which little boys tease and torment little girls. How can these paragons of unsightliness—caterpillars that is; not little boys—become objects of winged, luminous splendor?

Paul writes, “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:20,21).

We too, like caterpillars, must enter into death, for our timeworn bodies cannot in any other way experience that redemption of the body for which our redeemed spirits sigh. “Death exists for the sake of the resurrection,” George MacDonald said. “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies...” (1 Corinthians 15:36).

So through death and only through death, can a new being emerge. It rises from the ruins of the old, bearing not one of the marks and stains of the former life, but bearing "the image of the heavenly Man!" (1 Corinthians 15:49). We rise made far better, transformed and conformed to the likeness of God's own Son. John, who was the soul of simplicity, put it this way: "We shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2).

Then shall this groveling worm

         find his wings, and soar as fast and free;

As his transfigured Lord with lightning form

         and snowy vest—such grace He made for thee.

David Roper

When You Fall…

"Happiness is walking in God's ways!" —Psalm 119:3

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the psalter, twenty-two stanzas with four lines each arranged around the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmist throughout affirms his love for God and his desire to "walk in His ways" (Psalm 119:3).

But the psalm concludes with a dull thud: “I keep wandering off like a lost sheep—help me!" (119:176).

Nobody never sins. That's where grace comes in.

"When you are distressed by your failures, do not run from the Lord—as if any of us could hide from Him! Instead, run to Him quickly ... and say, ‘I have corrupted myself and made myself filthy, and I hate it because now I’m not like you. I cannot be clean again—I cannot be free from this corruption—unless you come and help me.“ —Julian of Norwich, I Promise You a Crown

When you fall, all you got to do is call…and He'll be there.

David Roper

Light Dawns

Psalm 97

"Light dawns for the righteous..." —Psalm 97:11

This psalm enshrines a theory of knowledge: How we know the good, the true and the truly beautiful.

According to the poet, "the heavens proclaim (God’s) righteousness and all the people see His beauty" (97:6). Truth and moral order are imbedded in the universe and in our hearts. No one has to teach us the knowledge of good and evil. We know. Even idolaters know that their idols are "worthless" (97:7). "They are secretly prostrated by that which they affect to despise (the one true God)," John Calvin said.

But, when men and women turn away from the truth, they descend into darkness and confusion. Their best thoughts become fuddled and inane. Claiming to be wise, they become fools. 

On the other hand, "light dawns for the righteous." The good-in-heart know the good. The more they seek it and obey it, the more of it they know. 

Discernment is not an intellectual problem; it’s a moral problem, a matter of the heart. "Good people see good things,“ George MacDonald said. Bad people see nothing at all. 

Truth eludes the proud and the clever, but the simple, the honest, the humble understand. Having trouble with God? Seek to do the very next thing He’s asking you to do. (Be sure to ask for his help.) If your will is to do His will you will know... (John 7:17). 

David Roper

3,23,17