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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Sabbath Rest Taken in the Mind of a Worm

I missed a Sabbath Rest post last Sunday as I had company.  I'll miss it next weekend as I'll be someone's company...so here's a mid-point Sabbath Rest to hopefully bridge the gap.

Today I find Isaac Watts lyrics bouncing around in my head, and while I have perfectly pleasant childhood memories associated with standing in church and singing, "Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?" I begin to realize now as an adult that it is equally important to respect and recognize that God in His infinite wisdom surely had some reason to classify said worms a little below the angels and even give them future charge to judge angels.  This is a thing I think we struggle to hold with any semblance of gracious balance.  So today, I quote Francis Chan in his book Forgotten God, with his reflections on the thoughts of a butterfly:
Years ago, when a random thought came into my head, I decided to share it with my wife.  "Have you ever wondered what caterpillars think about?" I asked.
Not surprisingly, she said, "No."
I then proceeded to tell her about the confusion I imagined a caterpillar must experience.  For all its caterpillar life, it crawls around a small patch of dirt and up and down a few plants. Then on day it takes a nap.  A long nap.  And then, what in the world must go through its head when it wakes up to discover it can fly?  What happened to its dirty, plump little worm body?  What does it think when it sees its tiny new body and gorgeous wings?
As believers we ought to experience this same kind of astonishment when the Holy Spirit enters our bodies.  We should be stunned into disbelief over becoming a 'new creation' with the Spirit living in us.  As the caterpillar finds its new ability to fly, we should be thrilled over our Spirit-empowered ability to live differently and faithfully.  Isn't this what the Scriptures speak of?  Isn't this what we've all been longing for?...
...I don't want to keep crawling when I have the ability to fly.



2 comments:

  1. Beautiful comparison of a worm to a caterpillar and our own transformation of becoming a 'new creation' with the Spirit living in us. Love this!

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  2. I thought so, too! I'm really liking the book I took it from!

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