CATERPILLARS CAN’T FLY

Imagine with me that you are a creepy, crawly caterpillar. You crawl around from leaf to leaf, eating them all up as you go along. You are happy with your creepy, crawly life until a butterfly comes along and tells you that you need to learn to fly. After all, aren’t caterpillars supposed to turn into butterflies? Of course! You admire the beautiful butterfly flitting overhead. He has such beautiful wings, and he floats so gracefully along above the flowers. “Wow,” you think. “It really would be wonderful to be a butterfly. Flying must be so much better than just crawling around on the ground. I’m going to learn to fly!”

How well do you think you are going to do? How long do you think it will take you to learn to fly? It’s ridiculous to even try. It won’t ever happen. Why? Because a caterpillar does not have the capacity to be able to fly. A caterpillar is not supposed to be able to fly; he is supposed to turn into a butterfly. That is God’s design for him. He is not supposed to stay a caterpillar. But just because he is supposed to become a butterfly doesn’t mean that he can just choose one day to fly. He can’t decide that since he is tired of crawling around on the ground, he will just fly everywhere from now on because it’s a smarter way to travel. The caterpillar doesn’t have wings, and he cannot choose them into existence just because he wants to fly. As hard as he tries, as much as he chooses, the caterpillar cannot begin to fly. As good and right as flying may be, it is not an option for the caterpillar. 

While it is God’s design that the caterpillar be transformed into a butterfly, learning how to fly is not part of that process. The caterpillar does not become a butterfly by learning how to fly. Choosing to fly is not something that a caterpillar can do. Only as a butterfly can he have the choice to fly. Because he is a butterfly he can learn to fly. It doesn’t work the other way around.

There is a process of transformation that must first occur inside the caterpillar. He must be changed from the inside out.  He must die to being a caterpillar and experience a new birth. Then, as a butterfly, he will be able to choose to fly. It is a choice that he did not have while he was a caterpillar. When he was a caterpillar, with the nature of a caterpillar, flying was not a choice. But now, with the nature of a butterfly, flying is a choice. His new nature allows him to choose things that he couldn’t choose before. But it also takes away choices that he used to have as a caterpillar. As a butterfly, he cannot choose to eat leaves like he did when he was a caterpillar. He is a new creature, with a new nature. His life is forever changed. 

You and I are like the creepy, crawly caterpillar. We are stuck crawling around on the ground, bound to sin and selfishness by no choice of our own. We did not choose our sinful nature; we were born with it. We were born caterpillars. We have no choice but to crawl around. Not that we were born sinning, but with a fallen, sinful nature, that is all we can do.

God has a plan for us though. He doesn’t want us to remain in our sinful nature as caterpillars crawling around on the ground. He wants to recreate us. He wants to give us new natures, to transform us into beautiful butterflies. He wants to give us wings so that we can fly, so that we can be free from sin.

But just because I know that God has a plan for me to become a butterfly and learn to fly (live sinlessly), doesn’t mean that I can just choose to fly (not sin) when I am still a caterpillar. I don’t have that capacity. Flying, or living a life free from sin, is not a choice that I have in my sinful nature. I may want to fly. I may want to stop sinning. I can see that it is better. I know that I need it. I know that God wants me to stop sinning; He wants me to fly. But I can’t just choose to stop sinning. I can’t just choose to fly because I want to fly. Like the caterpillar, I don’t have that capacity. I can’t create my own wings by deciding that it’s time to fly now. Choosing to fly won’t give me wings. Pretending that I have wings won’t do me any good. Strapping wings onto my back won’t work either. 

I must go through a transformation of my nature, just like the caterpillar. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. First, I must die to being a caterpillar; I must die to my sinful nature. I must have the transforming power of God in my heart. I must be changed from the inside out. I must experience a new birth, be recreated with a new nature. I must have the nature of Christ. Only after I have become a butterfly, because I am a butterfly, will I have wings, and therefore have the capacity to choose to fly. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Now, as a new creation, with a new nature, things are possible to me that were never possible to me before. As a caterpillar, I could only eat leaves, now as a butterfly, I can drink nectar. As a caterpillar, I could only crawl around, now as a butterfly, I can fly. It’s a choice that I have now that I never had before.

Before this transformation takes place, I can try as hard as I want, in as many ways as I want, but I will never be able to fly. I will always fail. Not because I haven’t tried hard enough. Not because I don’t have enough faith. Not because I’m not good enough. Not because God doesn’t love me enough. Not because something is wrong with me. I’m not a defective caterpillar. I will fail simply because I am still a caterpillar; and caterpillars can’t fly.

So don’t beat yourself up if you’re still crawling around on the ground and haven’t learned to fly yet. God does not expect caterpillars to fly. He didn’t give them that choice. But He gives them something better; He gives them the choice to become a butterfly. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Eph. 2:8,9. You cannot work your way into flying. You cannot work your way into becoming a butterfly. It can never happen. But you can, by grace through faith, accept the gift of transformation that God offers to you; the gift of transforming you from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

Instead of worrying about your inability to fly, recognize the truth about what you are. Maybe you have some wings strapped on your back to make you look the part. Maybe you have been trying to fly your whole life. All that counts for nothing. You are not a butterfly. All the attempts at flying, however good they may have been; all the beautiful sets of wings you have gone through in your attempts at flying: none of that changes the truth. None of that can make you a butterfly. The truth is you are still a caterpillar. You don’t need to learn to fly. Flying will be easy and come naturally once you are a butterfly. You don’t need flying classes. You need to be transformed into a butterfly. You need a new birth, a new nature, the nature of Christ instead of your sinful nature. Then, and only then, can you succeed at flying, because by their nature butterflies can fly. But those creepy, crawly caterpillars? Well, caterpillars can’t fly.