The Bird's and the Butterfly's

Click on the picture to see it better.

Each week Laura and I try to study the Bible together. We are going through Ephesians right now and recently we studied the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5 titled "Children of Light" in our NIV bibles. The image above is a diagram we drew to encapsulate the idea Paul is trying to get across in this section of Ephesians. Laura is in Physics right now, so using a hill where Potential energy and Kinetic energy are described further helped us understand this passage through the diagram. Not only was it fun to draw, but it helped us to better understand the process of sanctification and the importance of a holy lifestyle. (I actually drew this on one of the blank pages in the back of my bible. Kinda funny everytime I look at it.)


This would make more sense if you read Ephesians 4:17-5:21. This section talks about the transformation we are supposed to experience as children of light by putting off our old self and putting on our new self. This is a transformation of the mind and heart which causes our deeds to transform from bad to good.

In the diagram, there is a snowball at the top of the hill. This snowball is you. On top of the hill the potential energy is the greatest. We can head towards the right side of the hill, evil or our old self, or we can head towards the left side of the hill, good or our new self. It is important to notice that on top of the hill, the snowball is not moving. The kinetic energy on top of a hill = zero. It is lukewarm, like in Revelation 3:15-16. This is not good because Jesus will spit you out. So the snowball has the ability to roll left or right.

If we roll down the left side, we are stuck in our old self lifestyle. Where we are doing bad things, like stealing or cheating. Our hearts are hardened and we are seperated from God because of this. If we roll down the left side we are ignorant and insensitive to the things of God, and we are impure in our actions. As we roll down the left side, we continually lust for more and remove ourselves farther from God and godly things.

If we roll down the right side, we are becoming more like God. We are "being imitators of Him" (Ephesians 5:1), and the attitudes of our mind are to be made new. We will be more other people centered instead of self centered. We will naturally be more humble, and we will actively be exposing evil to the light of Christ. This was an important thing we hit on. Not only are we to be exposing evil to light, but we are to be active in searching this out. We need to be actively seeking evil so that we can destroy it. Sure we can sit back and wait to be convicted of evil before we destroy it, OR we can seek out the darkness in the corners of our hearts and destroy it when WE find it. Not when it finds us. There are many areas in our lives that need the light of Christ to shine on. Many that we don't even know about, which is why it is important for us to seek these areas so that they do not catch us off guard.

Another important thing we noticed is that it is easier to roll down than it is to climb up. I think this is true both ways. It is easier to continue in our old way of life and head towards our old self. I also believe that it is easier to continue being imitators of God if that is something we practice. The more good I do, the easier it will be next time. As well as, the more evil I do, the easier it will be next time.

The snowball rolls and picks up speed as it heads down the hill. This means that the farther down the hill we roll, the harder it is to go back, not impossible, but harder. It requires more work. Near the top of the hill, the snowball can easily go left or right. The snowball does not have as much kinetic energy, or movement, to slow it down to head the other way. This would represent the wayward soul. The new believer who has a hard time changing from his old ways of evil and wants to go back. But as this snowball makes his way down the right side of the hill, it becomes more and more difficult to turn back towards evil. I think that the more we know God, the less we will want to sin. Thus making it more difficult to sin because our will is fighting against the will to sin. I am not saying that it is more difficult for the more mature Christian to sin because it is always easy to sin, I am rather referring to a lifestyle of sin.

The same is true on the other side. The more we sin, the easier it is to sin and the more difficult it is to get out of that sin. The hill is in the way to easily cross to the other side. Crossing sides requires work. Actively seeking God and being aware of our choices and who we are as we transform into the likeness of Christ is necessary to put on the new self. Paul lists a lot of actions and attitudes that are to be put off, which goes along with putting on the new self. We can't just one day say we are new and be new. No, it needs to be followed with actions and a changing attitude for the statement to be true. This is our sanctification, being transformed from who we were to the image of Christ. This is done by actively seeking God and destroying the darkness that is in us. If we do not destroy the darkness that is in us, we will hold that darkness. There is no darkness in God. Therefore, if we hold onto our darkness, we cannot be like Christ and therefore we are not fully sanctified. There will be no darkness in heaven. Somehow, the darkness will be driven out of us. I would say it is easier to take care of it now rather than later. One way or another God will destroy the darkness in us (Hebrews 12:14-27). I would rather give it up, than have it ripped from me. The later hurts much worse.

What Laura and I learned was that we need to always be moving. It is not good to just sit on top of the hill because we need to be headed towards the bottom of the right side of the hill. We don't get there just by sitting. We also learned that it is easy to change our direction when it is still early. The farther we get in either direction, the easier it is to continue heading there. Which is why it is so important to continue heading in the right direction. We learned that being an imitator of God means being others focused, humble, caring, and actively destroying evil. We also learned that Laura and I draw wings differently. She draws them like a butterfly's and I draw them like a bird's :)

One Love,
Danger