All creatures are of My hand, the beast and bird, the fish and insect. All [are] given life and purpose of being. Each a part of the whole, balanced by My hand in obedience to their work. So too you, created and saved that the work of the Kingdom would glow as a flame from your heart. I have chosen you for such. The role of the redeemed is beyond that of a mere creature, set apart that you would know and love He who brings you life, and also to carry out the great works of eternity. The creatures do not respond, but only to the way of their kind. You are much more than these, for the response to the Father’s call in My Name brings even from men a new kind, one of the reflection of He who has created all. Move now in the way of this new kind, no longer bound by instinct and bodily urge, but raised to the mind of Christ, called higher in thought and heart; much more now you are. Live in My light. Turn away from the old, and come. Follow, that My ways would be yours, and My work also your own.
2Cor 5:17 (ESV) – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Eph 4:22 (ESV) – to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
1Cor 2:16 (ESV) -For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Bottom Line:
When little kids see a caterpillar, they see just that, a caterpiller.8 When an Entomologist see a caterpillar, he sees much more. He sees the butterfly or moth that it is about to become. Both the caterpillar and the butterfly it becomes share the exact same DNA, but the change in appearance is unmistakable. The appetite changes too. No longer does the creature crave the base host plants of its earlier life, but it uses its new wings to find what it could not reach before, the sweet nectar plants of its new life.
When we bow before the Lord, confessing Him as our Savior, and bowing to Him as our Lord, some of our attributes stay the same as well. Same DNA, and in our case, same appearance, at least for now, but the Bible teaches we have become a completely new creation. A startling spiritual metamorphous occurs that moves us from a flesh-driven nature, to a Spirit-driven nature; to a point where even what we want in life changes radically, as we move from the thoughts and desires of mere man to the thoughts and desires of our Creator God.
But guess what? We can’t fly away from all the caterpillars. And because we can’t, and because we don’t really look any different than we did before, it is easy to continue to eat, act and feel like we are still caterpillars. After all, we still work at the same job, know the same people, and the same name is on the mailbox. We may feel a difference internally, but when we get to work, there’s the same workload, the same pay, and the same title on our business cards.
Paul says to put off the old self and put on the new. How do we do that at work? Here’s two things: 1) Think higher thoughts of yourself. You may have studied to become an accountant, or mechanic, or entrepreneur, but the no longer defines you. You are much more than that. By His grace, you are now a disciple with much higher eternal work to accomplish while you are here. In fact, the Bible says that’s why you were re-created in Christ. And 2) Think higher and deeper. Its no linger about career, paychecks and worldly accomplishment. Ask God for His higher and deeper vision for your life, and then live it out everywhere you go, including work.
What was the work of Jesus? What was the work of Paul? What work took center stage in the pages of their lives? You would not say that the main work of Jesus was carpentry, and you would not say that the main work of Paul was tent making? Now they may have worked right next to people that thought that about themselves, but not them. Not you either.
For us, called by God, our education, experience and titles only become a means that pays for the necessities of life, and our workplace, a platform, Monday through Friday, to be the salt and light we are called to be in our Biblical job description.
Let’s raise our eyes to the nectar. We are a new creation, because the Word Himself, has done a great work in us.
