True Worship Makes a Beautiful Butterfly

When we are engaged to what true worship is and should be, we will be transformed into a more Christ-like image. True worship will lead us into the presence of God. God is always present in our lives, Matthew tells us, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matthew 18: 20) But when we worship Him the way that He deserves to be worshipped, we will feel His presence manifest itself to us. We will know that God is here and He is please with what is going on. This is the kind of worship that Christ calls us to. A worship that will transform our minds, but more importantly, it will transform our hearts. 

We can look at the caterpillar and how it transforms into a butterfly. The caterpillar initially looks nothing like the butterfly that is becomes. But when it goes into its cocoon, it is changed. The caterpillar isn't working extra hard to become a butterfly, this is how God designed it. But after time, a beautiful butterfly emerges from the cocoon because God made it to transform. 

God has made us to be transformed as well. When we are led into authentic worship of God, we are entering our cocoons. We can try as hard as we want to control our worship, but that won't effect our transformation. I am reminded of Heimlich, the caterpillar from the Pixar Movie "A Bug's Life." Throughout the movie he wished he would become a beautiful butterfly. There is a scene where he puts some leaves on his back and proclaims, "I am beautiful butterfly!" But that doesn't, change the fact that he still is not a butterfly. He is trying to control his transformation. It isn't until the end of the movie that he enters his cocoon and he emerges a beautiful butterfly! Just like Heimlich, transformation of our hearts will not happen until we give up control, and allow the Holy Spirit to do what it meant to do. So as we experience His presence and allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you, we are being transformed and we will emerge from our cocoons a new creature that looks more like Christ. 

Paul tells us in his letter to the church in Rome, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind..." (Romans 12:1-2) His words tell us that when we present ourselves as sacrifices to God, it is how we worship Him. This transcends our worship as only music, but our worship is our lives and everything we do that brings glory to God is our worship. And we can't let the evil in this world distract us from what our true purpose is. We cannot allow the world to make us something ugly. We must rely on the Lord to transform us into a beautiful butterfly.