You are no longer a catepillar so fly!

" If anyone is in Christ the new creation the old has gone the new has come" 2 Corinthians 5:17.
When I read this verse, I always wonder how can I become a "new" creation. How does a person who has been one way their entire way become a new creation? Can I truley become a new creature, when I commit my life to Christ?

So I started thinking..... Are their  any expample in nature when one being becomes an entirely new creation?  Of course, the caterpillar came to my mind. When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it becomes a completely new creation? Isn't that just a fasinating metophor of what Jesus does to us when we become christians? Have you ever walk up to a butterfly and said to it "You are still a caterpillar. Your not a butterfly. You were once a caterpillar you will always be a caterpillar." Of course not. That would be silly, and you would get some strange looks if anyone ever caught you doing that.

However, don't Christians do this to ourselves everyday? We look back on the past and let it define the person that we are to day. We allow ourselves to be overcome with guilt and condemnation for the person that we used to be.

Does this sound like you? Are you holding on to the person you used to be? Are you allowing you were define who you are today? I want to encourage you to let go of the person that you used to be. If unconfessed sins come to your mind, confess those sins and let them go. However, if confessed sins come to your mind ask Jesus to show you that the debt has already been payed for those sins. You are forgiven. Find scriptures that will remind you of the person that you are forgiven. A few you can look at are Romans 8:1, Hebrews 4: 16, 1 John 9,and Act 3: 19,

I challenge you to find a picture/sticker of a butterfly and put it in a place you can see it. Let it be a reminder of that you are forgiven, that you are a new creation in Christ. Don't look back at the times when you crawled in the dirt like a caterpillar. Allow Jesus to take you to new depths and dimensions as he continues to transform you.You are beautiful! You are Christlike! You are a butterfly!