Has a butterfly ever landed beside you while sitting outside? Have you ever wondered, when you saw it walking, if the butterfly was remembering what it was like to be a caterpillar? You know, back before it had wings and was bound to get wherever it wanted to by one millimeter step at a time. Such a silly thought really; that such an elegant and graceful creature would squander it's time remembering it's former self. But is it? Do not we, as new creations in Christ, do exactly the same thing?
How much of your time is spent remembering and focusing on who you use to be? Now we're not referring to remembering the old so that we can praise God for the new, there's nothing wrong with that. No, we're talking about allowing memories and thoughts about who you use to be renting space in your head for free. So much actually, that it begins to compromise your identity at times, maybe even a lot of the time.
Why does this matter? Because our beliefs fuel our actions. If a butterfly still believed it was a caterpillar, then it would be a “sitting duck” for predators as it strolled around on the ground. If we consider the thoughts and memories of our past selves as identity factors, then we’ll walk around feeling defeated and useless as Christians up until the point we decide to throw in the towel. What we believe is the pivot point between freedom and captivity. Why do you think the biggest running theme throughout the whole Bible is belief and unbelief?
So what is it that we are supposed to be believing? We are to believe the Gospel. Facts like our old self, which could never please God, was put to death and then regenerated into a new self which has the capabilities to be pleasing to God. How can the new self please God? Because it has the attachment of Jesus Christ in the form of the Holy Spirit. Just like you would tell the butterfly to use it's wings, we too should use our wings. The Holy Spirit is our wings. When we believe that God made us new and gave us a piece of Himself, then we begin to soar into a never-ending realm of freedom. Freedom from who we used to be before Christ.
So what do we do about those nagging thoughts and memories about our past selves? We take them captive when they arise and present them before the truth of the Gospel. We then choose to believe what the Gospel says and cast down the lies from the past. This may be an awkward process in the beginning where you don't feel like it's true. That's ok, do it anyway. Sometimes the best way to change what we believe is to act accordingly anyways. It's called obedience and discipline. When we engage repeatedly, then it's amazing to see what begins to happen with our belief system. So try using your wings today; whether you think you can fly or not.
Give us a call at 864-224-5557 or click on the Counseling button below. We’d love to walk with you on your journey as you learn to use your wings.