[Biblemat] A couple of lessons

[kenneth Thomas]

Parable of the Butterfly 
Author unknown
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He
sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its
body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress.
It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no
further. 
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged
easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. 
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any
moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body,
which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent
the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings
 It never was able to fly. 
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the
restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get
through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of
the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it
achieved its freedom from the cocoon. 
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us
to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would
not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never "fly!"
My Real Life Experience
By Kenneth E. Thomas
The story above reminded me of one of my own "real life experiences" when a
lad living in Kentucky. We were living with my maternal grandparents on a
farm just about two miles south of Cave City, Kentucky. I was always very
interested in the reproduction cycles of the animals and fowls and when a
cow was "with calve" or an old sow was "in the family way" or an old setting
hen was "sitting on a clutch of eggs" or a duck was "nesting" I would keep
an eye on each of them impatiently awaiting the arrival of their offspring.
Once while checking on the progress of a duck that had been nesting for
quite a while to my surprise she was not on the nest. As I looked at the
eggs one of them was moving and the duckling was attempting to exit the
shell. I watched impatiently for some period of time as the hole grew larger
and larger oh so slowly! Finally I decided the occupant could use some
assistance in getting out of the shell and so, like the person in the story
above, I proceeded to assist the little duckling in his endeavor to rid
himself of the shell which had him surrounded. As the days and weeks passed,
I continued to watch his progress and it was obvious that he was not well
coordinated. When he would get a drink of water as he threw back his head in
an attempt to swallow, he would always lose his balance and fall on his back

My story has a sad ending! I’m sorry to say that my attempts to assist God’s
natural processes of hatching a duckling, so damaged the little fellow so
that one day when it came a downpour he got under a down spout and evidently
as he threw back his head to swallow, he fell over backwards and I found him
dead beneath the down spout out behind the house. It wasn’t until years
later that I found the nerve to tell my grandparents that it was due to what
I had done trying to assist his entry into this old world that had cause the
little duckling’s demise. The moral of these stories is: "We must learn not
to try and improve on God’s arrangements in any matter whether it be:
1). The gospel plan of salvation= Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:36-38, 40, 41)
2). The names for Christ’s church= (Matthew 16:13-18; Romans 16:16; Acts
20:28).
3). The organization of the local church (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; Phil. 1:1-3
 1 Peter 5:1-5).
4). The "name" for followers of Christ= (Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Cor
1:10-12;1 Peter 4:16).
5). The worship activities each Lord’s day in the assembly= (Acts 20:7; 1
Cor. 16:1-3; Acts 2:42).
6). The "mode" of baptism= (Acts 8:26-39; Romans 6:3-6; Colossians 2:11-12).
7). The work of the collective= (Preach gospel, (1 Cor. 1:21; Relieve needy
saints, (1Cor. 16:1-2; Edify itself, (1 Thessalonians 5:11-21; Ephesians
4:11-16). 
Note: as was the case concerning the butterfly and the duckling above, any
attempts to improve or to help God out will only result in spiritual
disaster!
 
Kenneth E. Thomas
Pekin church of Christ
1451 Valle Vista Blvd.
Pekin, IL 61554
1 (309) 347-3582 - Office
1 (309) 347-5645 - Home
 
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