The Christian Path to Good and Beauty

 We use to live in an area with a ton of caterpillars everywhere. They would be dropping out of trees and onto the path of death where they would be squashed by every malevolent kid on his way home from school. Many would make it to their cocoon stage though and would survive the afterschool apocalypse. 

There is so much talk today about making ourselves and our families the best they can be. If we do this or that, we will be families of truth and good and beauty. Everyone has their formula and flavor. Lots of rules to follow, practices to implement, structures to adhere to. This is just a repackaged works salvation where I turn from the sinner into the image of Christ through maximum effort on my part and if I fail to do this or that then I and my family and my church won't be as fully transformed into Christ's image as I would have been had I done this or that or the other thing. This sort of emphasis will eventually lead to a judgmental elitism that divides the Body of Christ because some will be employing more insightful methods than the other lesser evolved Cretans within our churches; and eventually it will lead to an exhaustion of this kind of "spirituality" that will further lead to hopelessness and apostasy because all man-made effort is futile if one's goal is to be as truthful, good, and beautiful as Christ. If the laws of God are too high, the laws of men who think they've figured out the secret to success are impossible.

Instead, the biblical concept of salvation is God's doing and transformation begins to occur once one is in a submissive relationship with Him through Jesus Christ and His local church. It is God who is the source of truth and good and beauty. He is the Savior, He is the one who transforms, not through works or the next great ideas of savvy internet gurus, but through faith, through one's submissive allegiance to Him, an allegiance that seeks to dwell humbly and quietly in His presence in every place. The joy of His salvific presence is our cocoon and there is only one cocoon, one formula that will make us like Christ, because there is only one gospel and one Savior who saves through it. God's butterflies are made by being engulfed in the cocoon of God's presence. The caterpillar that attempts to soar to the skies on his own will end up a disgusting mess of goop on the ground.

As such, I can't make myself or anyone else good or beautiful, not even by speaking as much truth as I possibly can. It is God who makes ugly sinners into His beautiful images. The truth simply is the tree upon which the cocoon must attach itself but apart from one entering into God's presence through faith alone, no one will truly change for the better or the best.