“The Christ Cocoon”

It’s the only way to truly be changed or transformed:

“The Christ Cocoon.”

Yes, New Year’s resolutions can’t do it; neither can “turning over a new leaf:” for all us have an enemy within named “Me, myself and I.”  Or, as Pogo, the cartoon philosopher from years ago, said “We have met the enemy—and they is us!!”

“Can I get a witness?!?”

(I see that hand and that one and that one).

Yes, by nature, we’re our own worst enemy, who constantly shoot ourselves in the foot and then want to blame others.  Such is the nature of “scapegoating,” which is exactly what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden after they sinned (Genesis 3:7-13).

But, thankfully, even then our Creator knew that would happen and told them (and us) that He’d later on send Someone to help us overcome our “sin problem:” the “Seed of woman who’d crush the head of the one who’d bruise His Heel on the Cross” (Gen. 3:15).

And, what would be His Name?

Why, we know Him as “Immanuel:” the prophesied, virgin-born, only-begotten Son of God also known as “Jesus” (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-14; John 1:1, 14).

Never before or since has there ever been One like Him: One Who could make a blind man see, a deaf man hear, a lame man walk and a dead man rise.  No one, before or since, has ever talked like Him—and no one, absolutely no one, has ever been able to do what He did:

Free us from our sin and guilt—while also “giving us Life so we could enjoy it more abundantly” (John 10:10b).

Now we never can experience this by being religious: for, as someone once said, “Religion will make you sick; but Jesus will make you glad!”  Glory!!

Yes, only Jesus—the redeeming, forgiving, transforming, sinless Savior—can “turn beer into furniture” (as the saved, former alcoholic sinner described it).  And, it’s only as we “abide in Him,” i.e., “live, move and have our being in Him” (Jn. 15:1-5; Acts 17:28a), that we can experience “His Joy unspeakable and full of Glory” (I Peter 1:8b).

So, the question is “How do we do that? What does it mean to ‘abide in Christ’?”

Thankfully, the Bible gives us the answer by pointing us to the way a creeping, crawly caterpillar is transformed into a beautiful butterfly.

First, we must realize that’s what we are apart from Christ: ugly, carnal caterpillars who always “fall short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  Yes, by nature, we’re always drawn away by the devil’s temptations, which results in sin and death (James 1:13-15; I Jn. 2:16).

But, thankfully, when we (like the prodigal son) have traveled to “the far country, wasted our substance with riotous living, spent all, are in want, sitting at life’s pig sty and envious of the pigs,” we, too can “come to ourselves, arise and go to the Father, Who’ll welcome us Home with open Arms” (Luke 15:11-24).  Hallelujah!!

Then, after He enters our heart through the New Birth, we begin saying “Not, I, but Christ” and “More of Him and less of me.”  In other words, we surrender ourselves to Him and say “Have Thine Own Way, Lord, Have Thine Own Way.”

And, it’s then that His spiritual transformation (metamorphosis) begins in us.  No longer do we want to be “conformed to this world;” instead, we want to become more like Him by “the renewing of our mind” by spending time with Him in His Word (Romans 12:1-2).

Yes, it’s our daily “abiding in Him” in the “Christ Cocoon” that helps us “die to ourselves and come alive to Him” (Galatians 2:20).  It’s seeking Him first, not second, third or fourth.  It’s “forgetting the past, reach forward to the future and pressing for the Mark (Goal) of the Prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14): which is looking more and more like Him each day.

So, what’s keeping you from doing that today?  What’s keeping you from making “knowing Him (Jesus) and the Power of His Resurrection” your “Life’s Magnificent Obsession” even as Paul did (Phil. 3:3-10)?

It’s all about surrender, absolute surrender.  Today’s the Day; so, get started.

          (NOTE:  If you’d like to contact Bro. Tom or receive his daily devotional, entitled “Morning Manna,” you can e-mail him at pressingon@hotmail.com).