Life’s Ongoing Transformation

As a college student in the bayou country of southeast Louisiana, I had a favorite retreat where I could enjoy solitude and occasionally study. I would use a pirogue, that is a small shallow one person boat, and pole it, you can’t paddle a pirogue, way down in the swamp. The sounds of nature were all to be heard. It was here I observed a dramatic transformation.

One day as I lulled away the afternoon reading in the pirogue a big water bug crawled up the side and perched on the prow of the boat. With those big bug eyes he just sat there looking things over. Down in the tannic water among the decaying leaves his friends were still scurrying around in the mud. 

As the afternoon passed the crusty shell of this creature began to dry. I watched for some time as gradually the back of the shell began to crack. Slowly, every so imperceptibly the crack widened. Then a miracle happened. The creature in that shell emerged through that crack. It sat motionless for some time as the sun dried it. 

A trimmer went through its little body. Next it spread its wings and barely fluttered them. This it did several times. Then it strutted its gossamer wings and lifted off in flight. 

As it circled overhead in its new world I looked back down in the water. There were its old companions still crawling around in the mud and decay. Overhead rose the transformed new creature. It had been born again with a new life and lifestyle. That’s transformation.

A Christian experiences a life long change in their disposition. We are constantly being transformed. The new life begins in an instant and one’s character is to be constantly refined. It is then our new disposition should model the words of this old hymn.

“While passing through this world of sin, And others your life shall view,

Be clean and pure without, within, Let others see Jesus in you.

Chorus:
Let others see Jesus in you, Let others see Jesus in you;
Keep telling the story, be faithful and true, Let others see Jesus in you.
Your life’s a book before their eyes, They’re reading it through and through;
Say, does it point them to the skies, Do others see Jesus in you?”

Edgar Guest further challenges us with these his poetic words.

“I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day; 
I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. 
The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear, 
Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear; 
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds, 
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.”

You can meet one of society’s greatest needs by being the model of what it means to be a Christian.