Storytime with Keagan and Charity! Join Charity as she invites us to consider how the lives of cicadas can be a reminder of our relationship with Jesus. We hope you enjoy “More Lessons from Cicadas!”
A couple of weeks ago we looked at how the cicada’s life reminds us of how Christ came down into our grave to set us free. We remembered how hopelessly lost we were and desperately in need of rescue.
The second lesson of the cicada is how we must leave our old self BEHIND and live into the new identity Christ has given us.
Time to refresh our memories on the lifecycle of cicadas!!
After they have matured underground for 17 years, they crawl out of the their “graves” as I will call them and meet the world. They then shed their “old self” and live into their “new self.” Then they spend the next 6 weeks screaming, mating, eating, laying eggs, and dying. Sounds like a busy time to me…
The point I want to address here is that the cicada completely lets go of its old body to do what it was created to do. Enjoy life and procreate. (Yes I went there 😊)
Obviously, humans are more complex with a much higher calling than cicadas, but the principle is the same. In order to be who we were created to be and do what we were created to do, we must leave our old selves, our old mistakes, and our old way of life. Only then can we know God as He desires us to know Him. Only then can we live life to the fullest as He designed us to live.
Christ did not leave us to figure this out on our own. He has not only given us life as a future hope but as a present reality. Though now, we see only a fragment of what is to come.
Nevertheless, Christ has given us His Spirit to teach us how to live in communion with God now. That is how good He is. He does not want us to wait to experience and know Him until Jesus returns. He wants us to begin knowing Him now. The Spirit helps us do this.
We cannot fully know God until we accept and believe who He says we are because of His Son Jesus. The Spirit helps us do just that.
He does this is by freeing us from our old selves—shame, guilt, insecurity, pride, anger, selfishness—and living into the new—redeemed, forgiven, made new, sons and daughters, pure, holy, dearly loved by God, righteous and filled with power from above to do the will of God.
Unlike the cicada who can so easily crawl out of his old self, our sanctification is a life-long process and journey we take with God. We must not be passive in it but actively walk in step with Spirit.
Interestingly, sometimes this active participation with the Spirit doesn’t look active at all.
It may look like intentionally being still, embracing the silence, giving up productivity for a day. It is seeing that time spent alone seeking the face of God is worth more than a thousand hours of getting things done regardless of how you feel afterwards. Actively participating with the Spirit means giving Him your attention, listening for His voice, being open to His leading. It means serving others as Jesus did, by first filling up on Love so you have love to offer.
The cicada reminds me that if I want to truly know my Father, I must trust Him at His word. He is who He says He is and because of that I can trust who He says I am. I can crawl out of all my shame and leave it behind. I can trust Him at his Word. If I do not, then I am rejecting the intimacy God wants to have with me.
I do not know where you are at with finding your identity in Christ today. What I do know is that in order to have an intimate relationship with the Father, which is His greatest desire for you, then you must dig deep and examine your heart. It will be difficult. It will be painful. But it will be worth it because God will meet you in it. Shedding the old self doesn’t happen overnight, but if you are open to the Spirit’s work He will do far more then you could ever ask or imagine.
Author:
Hello! I’m the C to KC & Co! My name is Charity, and I am so excited you are checking out our site and blog. My deepest desire is that God will use the words on this blog to encourage, strengthen and deepen your love for Jesus. Read more of my writing here.
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Featured Photo by Michael Kropiewnicki from Pexels