Have you ever considered the purpose of a moth compared to the purpose of the bee? Probably not. I was thinking about how the purpose for our creation from the beginning is relationship with God. The Bible says that our original parents, Adam and Eve prior to the entree of sin were created in the image of God and walked with him enjoying his presence as we would enjoy spending time with our children.
Immediately after sin entered the picture Adam and Eve knew that they were naked, that something had changed. The intimate spirit and soul connection they had with God died and they recognized that something serious had changed. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves to avoid exposure and hid from God when they heard that him walking in the Garden. Yet God sought them out and confronted their sin. This process of original sin left us with what someone once coined as a "God shaped hole" in our hearts that causes us to search the pleasures of this world in an effort to fill this hole.
How does this relate to the Moth and the Bee? The analogy isn't perfect but I saw a lesson. The bee is born to serve the queen and the hive, selflessly spreading much needed cross pollination through out its world. The bee's path is purposeful flight going about pollinating the beautiful plants that bring us flowers and fruits and if a honey bee, creating the sweet honey for the benefit of the hive that will last long after the bee is gone.
The moth is like fallen man, flying to and fro, darting, sporadic, unpredictable, even appearing frantic seeking out the man made shiny light that eventually kills him. He flies into the light beating his head into the object of his desire exhausting himself, ultimately unproductive, never realizing the fulfillment of his desire and never satisfied.
Can you imagine trying to take a magazine and shoo a moth toward a flower? Or trying to get a bee to attack a light bulb? The nature of the bee and the nature of the moth don't allow them to engage in the behavior of the other.
Until we are reanimated by the spirit of God, until he makes us alive again and restores us, we will continue like the moth to seek to fill the "God hole" in our lives with all the shiny temptations that this world offers and in the end we will die unsatisfied and realizing that all the worldly gain was for nothing. But in Christ we have new life! Romans 12.2 says:
"Do not copy the customs and behavior of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think"....
In true Christianity God changes the desire of our hearts. We still see the shiny temptation but our eyes are opened to the shallow emptiness of its reality....and we choose God.
Questions:
Can you relate to the life of the moth?
What are the "shiny things" that tempt you?
How will they make you happy?
Have you been "transformed"?
Fight! Every. Day.
Mike
