Hardly an "aha!" moment. Form impacts function.

This axiom showed up today in Dallas while I was running from one terminal to another to make my connecting flight. In flip flops. Lugging two computers. I made the flight but lost my dignity along the way. Form impacts function. 

This axiom shows up every time a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly. As a caterpillar, "Lola" (c'mon, now, what would you call a caterpillar?) propels herself forward by shifting her internal organs to the fore. (As baseball legend Casey Stengel used to say to his skeptical listeners, "You can look it up.") After emerging from two weeks in its chrysalis, however, the grub formerly known as Lumbering Lola unfolds its wings and soars heavenward, far beyond it's previous confines. Form impacts function. 

This axiom showed up in Jesus, though somewhat antithetically to Lola's enviable transformation. Paul described Jesus' metamorphosis: "...though he was in the form [morphe] of God, [Jesus] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form [again, morphe; meaning Jesus assumed human nature as fully as he had known divine nature] of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7). He whose origins are from "long ago, from the days of eternity" (Micah 5:2), became susceptible to, indeed tempted by, the mortal pangs of hunger (Matthew 4:2; 21:18), thirst (John 19:28), and fatigue (John 4:6). He who "upholds all things by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3), as a man, was himself empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38; cf. John 3:34; Matthew 12:28); only afterward did he perform miracles (John 1:32; 2:1-11). Form impacts function. 

And, too, this axiom shows up in apprentices of Jesus who desire to be transformed in his image. It's one thing to mimic Jesus' behavior, to attempt to do the things Jesus would do. It's altogether different to declare with Paul, "...it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Paul wrote: "And we all...beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Like Lola (remember her?), we create the space of transformation--the chrysalis, if you will; God, however, effects the new creation, giving "life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit" (Romans 8:11), bringing the opportunity for deeper devotion, relationship, and ministry. Form impacts function. 

What's your gut-level response to the final paragraph?

How might you "create the space of transformation"?