When a butterfly looks for a place to lay its eggs, it will select a spot on or very close to a plant that the hatched caterpillar will like to eat. God has given the butterfly wisdom to know just what the little caterpillar will eat.
The little caterpillar has strong jaws and will spend its caterpillar life eating leaves, fruit or small plants. Four times in its caterpillar life its skin will become too tight, split open and drop off. A new skin will have already formed underneath to replace it.
Many caterpillars are eaten by birds, but the one that fools this enemy is the swallowtail caterpillar. When a bird comes close, it turns over on its back, and two large imitation snake eyes appear. The frightened bird flies away. Do you suppose the caterpillar learned this by practicing, or by painting the “snake eyes” on itself? No. This means of escape was provided by the Creator when this kind of caterpillar was first created and passed on by Him to all following generations.
The time comes, usually at summer’s end, for a great change in the caterpillar’s life. An instinct tells it to stop eating and prepare for cold weather. It does this by first weaving a net of silk around itself. Then it spreads a liquid all over this new oval home (called a chrysalis), which becomes hard and shiny, as though coated with shellac. These are usually golden colored, although there are other colors too, and each is camouflaged to be hidden in its surroundings. The caterpillar, now called a pupa, remains inside through the cold winter.
A miracle takes place inside this shiny chrysalis. When it finally opens in spring, a full-grown butterfly comes out, spreads its wings and flies off with an entirely new life. Its diet now will be limited to the nectar of flowers, sipping it with a long, hollow tongue. When not in use, this tongue coils up inside its mouth like a watch spring.
Most butterflies are brightly colored, including the lovely monarch. Another very pretty one is the painted lady, which makes long migrations between Africa and Iceland. In the jungles of Central and South America there are more beauties. An outstanding one is the blue morpha. Color markings of each species are always the same because God has instructed them to reproduce “after their kind,” and they never get mixed up.
The life of these interesting creatures is a reminder that God invites us to also make changes in our natural lives. We come into the world with natures that are selfish and sinful. But God has provided a way for us to be “born again” through the death of Christ on Calvary’s cross. When we accept Him as Lord and Saviour, we are brought into “newness of life . . . dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:4,114Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11)). Have you made this important change in your life?
MAY 5, 1996
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)
ML-05/05/1996