2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
I remember the story of "The Ugly Duckling" from my youth and I'm sure most of you know it as well. I didn't really understand the moral of the story then, but I sure felt sympathy for the ugly duckling. His egg became separated from the nest and was placed into and was welcomed into the nest of a mother duck.
When the eggs of her nest began hatching, the ugly duckling hatched too. The other hatch-lings made fun of this strange duck. He tried desperately to be part of the duck family, but as he grew larger, it became apparent that he didn't fit in. He tried to be what they told him he was, but he didn't blend in. Then, the ugly duckling discovers he isn't a duck at all, but he was a beautiful swan. His beauty far surpassed that of the ducks.
The Church of Jesus Christ is similar to the ugly duckling who tried being what others said he should be. We've tried to fit into the world of ducks and not to stand out among them. However, no matter how hard we tried to act and look like ducks, we couldn't conform to this image. The reason we cannot become what they've outlined, is because that is not who we are.
There have been many laws placed on the Church and preached to the Church, in order to make us conform to their ideas about what we should be. Many traditions have been passed down throughout the years, in order to change us into ducks, but we still don't fit their ideas. We've even tried swimming in their ponds, in order to fit it. We found others in other ponds to hang with, but they still believe they are ugly ducklings and don't realize they are beautiful swans. They then, would tell us we're not acting like ducks and push us to the pond where ducks should be.
The ugly duckling began losing his fluffy down and grow feathers. He also grew much larger than the other ducks and everyone noticed this change in his appearance. His ugly gray turned into a beautiful white layer of feathers, to the point where everyone recognized that he was not a duck at all. The other ducks avoided him initially, because he was different, but one day they couldn't deny his beauty. Finally, the ugly duckling laughed at the time and work he put into being a duck. He realized how graceful, beautiful and majestic and he was happy to be who he was made to be...a swan.
The Church has allowed the world and religion to define who we were. We tried to fit in, but we were still considered outsiders and were outcast if we varied in the slightest way we were taught or expected to be. Even when the beauty of the Lord began to transform the Church into His Glory, we were urged to settle into the idea of "just being ducks."
When the awkward stages befell us, many of us weren't sure who we really were. We recognized that there was something different in us, but we weren't comfortable with being different, because we didn't know what that was. Some tried to keep us out of sight from the other ducks, because we were often an embarrassment to the other ducks.
In these last days, the Holy Spirit and the Word are revealing how we are not ducks or even swans, but we are eagles. We were never meant to gather around the pond with the ducks. We couldn't become ducks, no matter how hard others (or we) tried to make us ducks, because that's not who we were created to be. We were created new creation beings and don't fit in with the religious duck ponds. We are finally beginning to renew our minds to God's Word and aren't conforming to the "world and age" they say we're supposed to be. We always knew God created us for more than swimming in a pond, because He created us in His Image and Likeness.
When I was first born-again, many well-meaning Christians instructed me on the way I should act, dress, behave and be. They did so, because they were afraid of my being misled in my Christian walk. If they'd been taught how the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was wrong for them, then that's what they would teach me. As I progressed in my walk with God, I realized that many of their "duck lessons" didn't fit the eagle calling and nature God created me with.
We were not called to be ducks swimming in the world's ponds. Nor were we created to be swans, just looking good while we swim in those ponds. We are a new creation, born to soar among the high places and lifted up on God's Spirit, soaring with Him. We were made to be majestic and high above all the places of the earth. We were made to soar into God's Own realm and to rise "on wings as eagles."
It was difficult for me to soar like an eagle, when swimming like ducks. I needed to be lifted out of the pond the world told me to swim in and I needed to listen to the Voice of my Heavenly Father. Most of the Christians trying to teach me, never attempted to fly beyond the boundaries the set around them. Once I got above the pond and fell into the current of the Holy Spirit, I simply allowed the air current of the Holy Spirit to hold me up and just soar with Him.
We are called into a higher place with God, other than the place the world has defined for us. As long as we walk in the world's image of what the Church should be, then we will be restricted to little duck ponds. We weren't created to be contained by anything, except the Holy Spirit and Jesus, Who is seated with the Father (and Who lives with us and in us). When we soar with Him, things on earth will look much different from His Throne Room, rather than a duck pond.
Let the storms that arise in your life to lift you above the things of the earth and remember that His ways and thoughts are "higher than ours." Let's begin to see things from the advantage of God's perspective and not from a duck pond.
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