Let me share with you why I choose 2 Corinthians 3:18 for my blog page heading:
A caterpillar can be quite pretty or somewhat drab to look at but both have great potential. The first part of their lives they just consume. They come out of their eggs eating their way through life. That is their nature, to eat, eat, and eat. Then, in time, they move to the next stage of their life, they wrap themselves up in a cocoon and rest. They have stored away enough energy from all their eating for the next stage of their journey. While they are safely tucked away in their cocoon resting and using up that stored energy God changes them. By the time their change is complete their cocoon has become fragile and, with great effort they are able to push through. They emerge totally changed: morphed into a new form, not at all like they were before, butterflies. It is sad that once butterflies emerge they only live for a very short time; but they sure are beautiful while they are here.
God created caterpillars to change, literally and physically change from one body to another. This process is called metamorphosis. It comes from the Greek word “metamorphoo”, which means to transform.
“But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we “earnestly and patiently await (the coming of) the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) (as) savior, Who will transform and fashion anew the body of our humiliation to conform to and be like the body of His glory and majesty, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21)
The word “transfigured” in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Philippians 3:21 is translated from the Greek word “metamorphoo”. When we believe that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and accept Him as our Master and Savior we start eating. We are so excited in our new life in Christ that we go to Bible Studies and Church, gobbling up as much of the Word of God as we can. Then when the newness of the experience starts to wear off we settle into a rest of walking in our new found life and mulling over what we have learned, digesting (as it were) our stored-up food. As we rest in God and adsorb what we have learned from His word God changes us. We then emerge from our cocoon of rest into the same world we left, but we are changed: morphed into a form more like Jesus. But unlike the butterfly we continue to change, ever increasing in likeness to Jesus. Each time we learn and absorb something from His Word we continue to change from one glorious creation of God to another. We become one glorious representation of Him to a greater glorious representation of Him. But, unlike butterflies, we do not have short life spans. We will live forever, from glory to glory.
