Transformation, "and we shall all be changed..."

Today it occurred to me that the life of the butterfly has a claim on the that of the caterpillar. The irresistible transformation of a caterpillar is so powerful and complete that the form that emerges bears no resemblance to what it was when it begin to spin its own tomb. In other words, what went in looks nothing and acts nothing like what will come out. To the uninformed that caterpillar is the final form. Those who don't know better have no idea that the caterpillar is the larva of the butterfly, and that it will soon be changed into what it was originally created and designed to be. So it is with the Christian, the one who places his life into the hands of Christ . The Apostle Paul wrote, "Listen! I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will be changed...and we will be changed." (1 Cor 15:51-52). In another place he wrote, "We all.. are bring transformed into the same image from glory to glory." (2Cor 3:18). Doubtless this refers to that day when the Lord Jesus returns and we are instantly changed into the perfect forms we will have for eternity, but I wonder, are there not times of radical transformation for us now? Using more transformational language, the Apostle Paul wrote, "If any man is in Christ he IS a new creation..." See the word "is"? Is means now. It is a word that speaks of the present. Clearly the future form of the butterfly has a claim upon the present form of the caterpillar, and the time will come when what was spoke of in the future will be referred to in the present. When Jesus said, "Behold, I make all things new.", he was not assigning "all things" into a future time. There is much that the Lord made new in the past that we now look at as in the present. There is much He is making new right now. However for those being tranformed now, being prepared for use in His Kingdom both now and in the future, there are times when in order to be transformed, we, like the caterpillar must cooperate to bring about the changes that will transform us. The very life of Christ that has been placed within us by God has a claim upon what we are now, and that claim can move upon us irresistibly and powerfully so we can become what we long deep down to be. It may be oversimplfying to describe it this way, but at the risk of sounding dramatic I will say this. There are times when looking at ourselves, as we are right now, that all we can see is a bristley thing crawling along the ground, but, I guarantee you that when God sees us in our present form He sees the finished, final, fully transformed product. One day we will emerge from these dark, confining cacoons into the clear light of day to discover that Christ's life within has done for us what we could never do for ourselves, and that even the tightly woven tomb we hated so have been transformed from a place of death to one the environment that allow my transformation to take place. The very thing that protected me while I was in one state allowing God's original transformative work to be completed will be shredded and discarded forever. We are being changed, and we shall be changed, and what God will have transformed us into will be exceedingly, abundantly, above anything we could have ever hoped or asked for. I can hear Father now. "Yep, there's Gary. He is exactly as I knew he would be!"