Caterpillars to Butterflies

To abide in Him is to be one with Him. To be one with Him in all that He was as the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, and in all that He is as God in heaven.

To be united with Him is meant to be an authentic reality for every believer. But what does it mean to be united with Him?

I believe union with Christ is something to be experienced as well as understood by the mind.

Many believers mentally assent to the idea of abiding, much as they assent to the fact that Jesus died on the cross. The mind acknowledges it as truth, yet it can remain little more than information. I can say there are four wheels on my car. My mind simply registers it as a fact.

But to say, "Jesus Christ is Lord," or "I abide in Christ," is different. Those words are not meant to remain a mental assent to a fact. They are meant to become an authentic, living reality.

My abiding in Christ is a supernatural oneness of love and Spirit with Jesus. He died and rose again not simply for me to believe something but to live in Him.

I do not step into a lake expecting to remain dry. I enter the water expecting it to surround me. That is the invitation of abiding.

Jesus died to transform me, much like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Before its transformation, a caterpillar can only crawl through the garden. After becoming a butterfly, it can still rest on the flowers, but now it can also fly.

In the same way, before I became a new creation in Christ, I could only live and move in the natural world. Now, through His Spirit living in me, I still walk on this earth, but I also live in the reality of heaven. I move in both at the same time.

Once I am born again, Christ's Spirit lives in me, giving me access to His kingdom.

Living from this reality means:

• Obeying God's Word and the Holy Spirit within me.

• Remaining anchored in God's Word and allowing my mind to be continually renewed.

• Aligning my will with God's will in heaven as it is brought to earth.

• Abiding, soaking, and appropriating His presence continually.

• Loving and relating to Him intentionally, keeping Him ever before me.

Having access to two places at once should not be hard to imagine because we already do it with people, we love who live far away. We may not see them often, yet they remain present in our hearts and minds.

We think about them, pray for them, and picture their faces. Their well-being stays close to us because we know and love them. The deeper our love, the more naturally our thoughts return to them.

This is how we practice the presence of God, and it is why Jesus came to earth.

We can picture Jesus because we know the stories of His life and His interactions with others. We can imagine what He looked like, remember the words He spoke, and recognize His kindness and character. God graciously gave us enough to know the heart of our Lord. The Father knew we would need that.

More wonderfully still, He gave us His very Spirit.

Jesus died on the cross and rose again to give us access to the heavenly realm and the storehouse of heaven. When He said goodbye to His closest friends, the disciples, you can hear His deep love for them. As a man, leaving them was surely difficult because He knew how vulnerable they would feel.

Yet He reassured them that He was sending the Holy Spirit to be their Comforter, Friend, Guide, and Power. He died to give them that gift, and He died to give that same gift to you and me.

We greatly underestimate what He has provided for us if we would only believe it, desire it, and seek Him wholeheartedly. I am convinced Christ advocates for us before the Father and grieves that we pursue His beautiful face so halfheartedly.

Knowing Christ has more facets than we can ever imagine. Like a beautiful jewel cut by a master jeweler, each facet reveals another glimpse of His eternal beauty.

"Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."


Matthew 7:7 (ESV)

In Him, I have access to all His beauty, His character, and His riches. I am a co-heir with Christ. I am His bride, and in His name, I have access to all that He has.

Like the butterfly, I still live in the same garden. The garden has not changed, but I have. Once I could only crawl through it. Now, because Christ lives in me, I can soar above it. That is the miracle of abiding.