The Cat-Maiden by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) via Gemini
Recently, there’s been a commercial running that includes a woman making videos as a “mom-fluencer” even though she has no children. The idea that people so trust what is on the outside to influence them is truly sad because it means we’re living in a shallow society that has a seared collective conscience. We are just as apt to believe a lie as the truth when we become focused on the outward appearance as our primary means of judgment. The following fable deals with the idea of change being only on the surface rather than inside and out.
The Classic Fable Retold: The Cat-Maiden (Perry 50)
A sleek, beautiful cat lived in the home of a young man, and over time, she fell hopelessly, desperately in love with him. She spent her days watching him with adoration, wishing with all her heart that she could walk by his side as a companion rather than a pet.
Hearing her persistent cries, the goddess Venus took pity on the creature. With a flash of magic, she transformed the feline into a stunning, elegant young woman.
The young man was utterly captivated. He saw her grace, her beauty, and her fine gown, and within a short time, they were married.
On their wedding night, as they retired to their bedchamber, Venus decided to test whether the bride’s nature had truly changed along with her shape. She released a tiny, scurrying mouse right onto the floorboards near the bed.
Forgetting her bridal veil, her vows, her fine linen, and her human dignity in an instant, the bride dropped straight down onto all fours on the Persian rug. With wide, wild eyes and bared claws, she scrambled across the room in a fierce feline crouch to corner the mouse.
Disgusted by this utter lack of true change, Venus raised her hand. With a billowing cloud of magical smoke, the human bride vanished—replaced instantly by the original white cat, pouncing triumphantly over the mouse while the bewildered groom stood frozen in the doorway in absolute shock.
Walking in Newness of Life vs. Wearing a Costume
You can change a person’s clothes, put them on a pedestal or in front of a camera, or give them a brand-new title. But a costume change does not change a heart. Just like the cat-maiden, people can put on a brilliant performance for the public square, but when the unexpected “mouse” of life startles them—when pressure hits or temptation creeps in—their true instinct takes over.
We see this in spiritual spaces, too. It is dangerously easy to adopt the vocabulary, the aesthetics, and the surface behaviors of faith without experiencing an actual transformation of the soul. But God is not fooled by a costume change.
Scripture reminds us that true faith is never about slapping a new exterior onto an old nature:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come!”
God doesn’t just hand us a bridal veil and hope we can fake our way through life. Instead, He offers a complete heart transplant. As Paul writes when describing our spiritual birth and transformation:
“We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.”
Today, let’s look past the curated “mom-fluencers,” the social media filters, and the polished performances of this world. Let’s ask the Lord to examine our own hearts.
May we never settle for a superficial costume change or a religious disguise. Instead, let’s embrace the deep, authentic work of the Holy Spirit, daily walking in the true, lasting newness of life!
Repent, Then, And Turn to God by Flickr User Sharon of Art4TheGlryOfGod, CC License = Attribution, No Derivative Works Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original image and to access the user’s full photo stream at Flickr
The Hebrew word Yom means “day” in English, and the Hebrew Kippur means “to atone” in English. This is the “Day of Atonement,” and is the precursor to the atonement we now receive through Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ). This day began Friday (Oct 3rd) at sundown and continued through sundown Saturday (Oct 4th). If you want to read the Torah reading that goes with the holiday, read through Leviticus 16.
This day gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves and repent from anything that may separate us from our Creator and Lord. So, what is repentance? I found a great definition that said, “Repentance is the willingness to allow God to judge and transform you.” I love that. It gives me reason to repent on a regular basis.
The word repent is used in some armies to say, “About face.” It literally means, “Go in the opposite direction.” But how can we turn around and walk in a new direction without acknowledging the current direction we’re heading? We need that repentance that allows God to examine our direction if we want to be sure we’re walking according to God’s will. It’s like looking at a satellite map to make sure we’re on the right path. Who better to tell us we’re lost than the One who can see all the way to the end of our road?
Just receiving judgment is not the end of the things. If we used our GPS to see where we were going, but we failed to turn as instructed, we might hear the GPS voice say something like, “At the next intersection, make a u-turn.” If we still don’t turn, we might hear the voice say, “Rerouting,” as the GPS tries to find a new way for us to get to our chosen destination. If we want to get to the right destination, we must reroute, make a u-turn, do an about-face, or in some way repent. Just hearing that we need to change routes will not get us where we want to go.
I think most of us fear judgment because people use it as an excuse to make us feel less than them. People also tend to stop with judgment, and that leaves us feeling hopeless with the permanence of it. However, until the final judgment, what God finds in His examinations of us is not permanent and definitely not hopeless. He doesn’t tell us something like, “So sad, you’re on the wrong path. You might as well give up and stay there.” No, instead He says (in Acts 3:19 NKJV), “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Be converted could just as easily say, be transformed.
When we repent, it’s like a trip to a diagnostician (doctor who diagnoses troubles). Imagine this doctor finds a cancer that needs to be removed. That’s judgment. You agree to let him do surgery because you trust that he knows better than to just slice it off and leave you bleeding. And you’re right. He medicates and binds up the wound to bring healing and comfort. That’s the beginning of your transformation from sick to healed. It continues until you are fully back to health.
Just like we don’t have only one lesson to learn in life, we don’t repent only one time. We do best if we allow God to judge and transform us as often as possible. Remember, Moses was the only man who talked with God face to face, as a man talks to his friend. And yet, the time came when Moses did not allow God to transform him. He hit the rock to bring forth water instead of being transformed and speaking to the rock. That disobedience and distrust cost him dearly. It didn’t stop God from loving him, and we know he is with God because he was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Yeshua, but he missed blessings God longed to give to him.
So, what about you? Are you willing to come before the cross to allow God to judge and transform you either again or for the first time? Comment below if you would like me to pray for you and with you as you walk through this repentance to your deliverance. Like Paul, I often feel the need to repent multiple times in a day, so I gratefully accept your prayers for me as I seek God for my own judgment and transformation…today and in the future.
And enjoy this video of the song Search Me, Lord by The Heritage Singers. There is one incorrect lyric where it says “holed” instead of “whole,” but the music is great…
Crystal is, like her name, multi-faceted. She can even write about herself in third person and only feel a little awkward about it. 🙂 She loves to write; she loves kaleidoscopes, fractals, and all things colorful; she loves her husband, her family, and her feline furkids; and mostly she loves Yahveh Almighty, her Creator. She believes her creative mind is in her DNA from Him, and she believes He sees His creations as she sees the images inside a kaleidoscope–all different yet all beautiful and most beautiful when light (His light) shines through them.
Judgment and Transformation
Repent, Then, And Turn to God by Flickr User Sharon of Art4TheGlryOfGod, CC License = Attribution, No Derivative Works
Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original image and to access the user’s full photo stream at Flickr
The Hebrew word Yom means “day” in English, and the Hebrew Kippur means “to atone” in English. This is the “Day of Atonement,” and is the precursor to the atonement we now receive through Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ). This day began Friday (Oct 3rd) at sundown and continued through sundown Saturday (Oct 4th). If you want to read the Torah reading that goes with the holiday, read through Leviticus 16.
This day gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves and repent from anything that may separate us from our Creator and Lord. So, what is repentance? I found a great definition that said, “Repentance is the willingness to allow God to judge and transform you.” I love that. It gives me reason to repent on a regular basis.
The word repent is used in some armies to say, “About face.” It literally means, “Go in the opposite direction.” But how can we turn around and walk in a new direction without acknowledging the current direction we’re heading? We need that repentance that allows God to examine our direction if we want to be sure we’re walking according to God’s will. It’s like looking at a satellite map to make sure we’re on the right path. Who better to tell us we’re lost than the One who can see all the way to the end of our road?
Just receiving judgment is not the end of the things. If we used our GPS to see where we were going, but we failed to turn as instructed, we might hear the GPS voice say something like, “At the next intersection, make a u-turn.” If we still don’t turn, we might hear the voice say, “Rerouting,” as the GPS tries to find a new way for us to get to our chosen destination. If we want to get to the right destination, we must reroute, make a u-turn, do an about-face, or in some way repent. Just hearing that we need to change routes will not get us where we want to go.
I think most of us fear judgment because people use it as an excuse to make us feel less than them. People also tend to stop with judgment, and that leaves us feeling hopeless with the permanence of it. However, until the final judgment, what God finds in His examinations of us is not permanent and definitely not hopeless. He doesn’t tell us something like, “So sad, you’re on the wrong path. You might as well give up and stay there.” No, instead He says (in Acts 3:19 NKJV), “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Be converted could just as easily say, be transformed.
When we repent, it’s like a trip to a diagnostician (doctor who diagnoses troubles). Imagine this doctor finds a cancer that needs to be removed. That’s judgment. You agree to let him do surgery because you trust that he knows better than to just slice it off and leave you bleeding. And you’re right. He medicates and binds up the wound to bring healing and comfort. That’s the beginning of your transformation from sick to healed. It continues until you are fully back to health.
Just like we don’t have only one lesson to learn in life, we don’t repent only one time. We do best if we allow God to judge and transform us as often as possible. Remember, Moses was the only man who talked with God face to face, as a man talks to his friend. And yet, the time came when Moses did not allow God to transform him. He hit the rock to bring forth water instead of being transformed and speaking to the rock. That disobedience and distrust cost him dearly. It didn’t stop God from loving him, and we know he is with God because he was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Yeshua, but he missed blessings God longed to give to him.
So, what about you? Are you willing to come before the cross to allow God to judge and transform you either again or for the first time? Comment below if you would like me to pray for you and with you as you walk through this repentance to your deliverance. Like Paul, I often feel the need to repent multiple times in a day, so I gratefully accept your prayers for me as I seek God for my own judgment and transformation…today and in the future.
And enjoy this video of the song Search Me, Lord by The Heritage Singers. There is one incorrect lyric where it says “holed” instead of “whole,” but the music is great…
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October 4, 2014 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction | atonement, Bible Commentary, Bible study, conversion, examination, judgment, repentance, Scripture, sin, spiritual healing, Transformation, u-turn, Yeshua HaMashiach, Yom Kippur | Leave a comment