There are two things that most young children enjoy when they are little, . . . jello and butterflies!
My best memory of jello as a kid was one evening when my mother made strawberry jello squares. Rather than eat them like normal human being, I decided to impress my siblings by trying to bounce them off the ceiling and catch them in my mouth. This did not work, the first jello square I tossed stuck to the ceiling. At first this seemed fun, I laid on my back on the floor and waited for it to fall so I could catch it in my mouth. This never happened and in an effort to hide this activity I scraped it off the ceiling with a spatula. This did not work either, removing the “popcorn” texture from the ceiling and leaving a red stain that needed to be painted over!
In elementary school I had a friend name Greg who lived across the street who was a park ranger wanna be. If he saw a creature in distress you could count on Greg to save the day. I would often do things to antagonize Greg, one particular time I decided to swat butterflies to the ground out of the air just to make Greg mad which turned into a wrestling fight.
There is a verse in the Bible that uses jello and butterflies as an illustration of how we are to live “out of this world” lives, check it out . . .
READ: Romans 12:1-2
Did you catch it? The word “conform” in verse 2 means to, “mold or shape into a certain pattern”. Does that sound like a characteristic of jello? The word “transform” in verse 2 is where we get the word metamorphosis which means to, “completely change the essential nature of something”. Does that sound like the process a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly? What do jello and butterflies teach us about Romans 12:2? I thought you’d never ask . . .
The world wants to us CONFORM ourselves into its MOLD (Rom. 12:2a) – Just like jello can be molded into any shape, the world has a mold that it wants all of us to “conform” ourselves into. It is a mold that shapes our thinking, our attitudes, our words, and our actions. The world’s mold is NOT something we are to pattern our life after. We must be careful not allow our love for the things of this world to be what shapes our lives (1 John 2:15-17).
God wants to TRANSFORM us into something completely new (Rom. 12:2b) – METAMORPHOSIS is the unexplainable and miraculous transformation a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. This is the type of complete transformation God takes us through when we give our lives to Him. It is not something that we do for ourselves, but something that God does in us to change us from one thing into something completely new and different (2 Corinthians 5:17). Where does this transformation begin?
Transformation begins with a renewed MIND (Rom. 12:2c) – New and improved! This is a phrase that advertisers use to communicate that an old product has undergone a significant change and is now either brand new or superior to the old one. God wants to take us through a “renewal” process where the end result is a new and improved version of ourselves! This renewal begins with our thinking. When God changes what we think, therefore what we believe, He will effectively change our outward actions and behavior into the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:17-23)!
Transformation results in the ability to discern the WILL of GOD (Rom. 12:2d) – With a new and improved mind and self we will have a brand new desire and ability discern and do God’s will. God’s will for our lives is good, it is something that is morally right and honorable. God’s will is acceptable, it is something that is pleasing to do. And ultimately, God’s will is perfect, it is something that is exactly right for our lives. With a transformed life we will be dedicated to discerning and understanding what pleases the Lord and doing it (Eph. 5:9-10, 17; Col. 1:9-10).
CONCLUSION
When we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, God radically CHANGES our NATURE into something different than the world! There are 2 pre-requisites for God to do this transformation in our lives. We must receive God’s mercy through faith in Jesus Christ and we must present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1). Only then will we be able to step out of the world’s mold and experience the life transforming work of God in our lives!
