From the time I was a little girl, I have been fascinated with butterflies.  At one point I believed that butterflies actually evolved and became fairies.  Truth be told, I still do believe that.  My fascination with them continues, and so this morning as I sat on my patio, it did not surprise me that I noticed them.  Where I sit, I could see quite a few butterflies dancing around in my next- door neighbor’s yard.  Their yard is the only place I can enjoy them because they are not fluttering around in my yard.  My neighbor spends a lot of time planting flower bushes and the butterflies definitely appreciate that.  Butterflies are attracted to flowers and therefore, my yard does not attract them at all.  As much as I love them, I have done absolutely nothing to attract them.

As women of God – As a people of God, we are tasked with drawing unbelievers to Christ.  Are we planting the right seeds?  Are we planting the correct flowers that will attract? 

Ephesians 4, just like other places in the bible, tells us the necessity for developing and displaying characteristics that will draw those around us to Christ.  Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV) says to “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”  Verse 25 goes on to say, “Therefore, having put away falsehood (unrighteous living), let each one of you speak truth (The Gospel of Christ) with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

Verses 26-30 continues to speak to these same truths, and in verses 31 and 32 we are told to “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” 

We are supposed to live our lives in a way that attracts.  This is part of our mission-our calling.  Mark 16:15 tells us that we are to go out into the world and spread the gospel of Christ.  We cannot just tell people to come to Christ, we must behave in a way that attracts them to our light.  Yes, Christ does the drawing them, but we have to live our lives in a way that people see Christ in us.  John 15:2 (ESV) says “every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”  It is our fruit that attracts people. 

We can either plant our own seeds; bear our own good fruits or watch as others do the work of attracting nonbelievers to Christ.  What they see in us should attract them to Christ.

Amen.