ONCE WE WERE CATERPILLARS

Ezekiel 36:24-32
Titus 3:3-7
Justify:  to give an acceptable reason for an action.
Justify:  to position lines of text so that the edges form a straight edge.
Justify:  to be made righteous by God's transforming  grace.

Painted Lady Butterfly Caterpillar
In the animated movie, "A Bug's Life," we're introduced to Heimlich, a candy corn-devouring Caterpillar whose metamorphosis is way over due.  He dreams of the day when he will become butterfly he is meant to be.

 "Someday, " he says, "I will be a beautiful butterfly and then everything will be better."

 Someday, I will be a beautiful butterfly, and then everything will be better.  Someday ...


Like Heimlich, all human beings (including this pastor) have had those longings for that someday when everything will be better:
  • Someday, I will be an adult and move out of my parent's house, and be able to make my own decisions, and then everything will be better.
  • Someday, I'll meet that special someone, get married and have kids and then everything will be better.
  • Someday, I will get that dream job and make lots of money, and then everything will be better.
  • Someday, I'll lose that weight and get buns of steel and washboard abs, and then everything will be better.
  • Someday, I will finally figure out how to be happy and not feel so lost, and then everything will be better.
 Foolishly, people try to fill that void in their lives with by following our own desires and pleasure with things like:

  • money and careers;
  • sex and relationships; 
  • possessions and prestige;
  • food, drugs and alcohol;
  • thrills and risky behavior.


People are deceived into thinking these will make everything better and become enslaved by them.

In Acts 17:22-27, Paul told the Athenians that God did not live in temples or statutes or statues or idols, but in the hearts of people.  We are created to be in relationship with God.  Augustine used the term, "a God-shaped hole" to describe that state of being that no amount of "somedays" can fill.  Only God can do that.

So God, not because of who we are but because of who God is -- love -- claims us as God's people and seeks us out, gathers us in so that we can experience what the world cannot give us:  
  • Lasting peace and security.
  • Life that is lived with purpose and meaning that makes a difference.
  • Being part of something that is bigger than ourselves.
  • A feast of abundant love and abundant living.
  • The freedom to be the people we were created to be:  loved and loving.
Out of God's mercy and love, through the transforming grace of Jesus Christ which is generously and freely given, the Holy Spirit offers us new life, new beginnings and restoration.

That's what being justified by grace means to our lives.  Through the forgiveness we receive when we confess our unloving and harmful ways and ask Christ to come into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, our lives are re-aligned with God, and the image of God is restored in us.

It's like we are an oil painting.  Over the years, the great works of the masters accumulate a dark, grimy layer of soot, air pollution, and dust.  Over the years, it builds up to the point that the original painting becomes so dark, it's almost impossible to see it.  To return it to it's original beauty, it has to be carefully cleaned, retouched and repaired.  It has to be restored.

Sin does the same thing to us.  Over the years, the affect of our sins and the sins of others, creates a dark, grimy layer that damages our souls and obscures the image of God we are all created in.  Baptism is a symbol of how God's grace washes away our sin and retores not only our relationship with God but also the image of God in us.

Once, we were like Heimlich the caterpillar, sinners longing for the someday when we would become beautiful butterflies and everything would be better.  Instead of leaving us in that state, God, who is love, came to live among us.  Jesus, God in human flesh, taught us how to live as God's people and showed us the way to new life, abundant love and living.  Through the transforming grace of Christ, God's will is that we not remain caterpillars, but to become the beautiful people of God, forgiven and restored.


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