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Christianity is no walk in the park. It is a faith that requires you to love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, and to endure hardship like a good solider. If you’re looking for fame, fortune, or just simply a good time then journeying with Jesus will not be a road you will stay on for long. Why? Because journeying with Jesus requires you to actually change; a command given by scripture “to be transformed.”
But what does transformation look like? Let’s look at the butterfly vs. the chameleon. Butterflies don’t start off as butterflies, they begin life as something else - caterpillars. They aren’t born with wings, cannot fly, and don’t have those uniquely beautiful colored patterns we admire during the Spring. No, they have to go through a process first. A process where they are hidden for a season, shed their old nature and form, and then morph into what we know as butterflies.
Not so with chameleons. The chameleon has the ability to simply change the outer color of its skin and blend into the environment without its nature ever being changed. In other words, there is no transformation needed on the chameleon’s part in order to live. They can easily look like their apart of the environment by changing what’s on the outside while the inside remains the same. Thinking about this sort of reminds me about the passage concerning “wolves in sheep clothing.”
So, what does this mean? As you reflect on your own transformation process as a believer; do you have the testimony of the butterfly or the chameleon? Has your nature, form, habits, mind, and heart been changed on the inside? Or are you able to take on the appearance of whatever environment you’re in without ever allowing the Holy Spirit to change you from the inside out? As you journey with Jesus; it is a journey that should lead you to take wings and fly, not assimilate into whatever the current environment is and remain the same.