As a young boy, we reared ducks and chickens. Overtime, I realized that the eggs of the ducks were usually bigger than that of the chickens. So one day I said to myself, ‘if I could take some of the duck eggs and replace them with hen eggs during incubation, the hens would hatch bigger chicks (since the duck eggs were bigger)’. So I went ahead with my idea and swapped the hen’s eggs with that of a duck, while hoping my dad wouldn’t detect my experiment.
The eggs were hatched after a few weeks. I was expecting to see some giant chicks but alas, I saw small ducklings. I became confused; I thought to myself – ‘but this hen sat on these eggs all along, how come it hatched ducklings?’ But because I did not want anyone to know that I was experimenting with the poultry, I could not voice out my confusion. However, as I was reading my bible some years later, that experiment came alive to me again and it helped me understand our identity in Christ.
What made the difference in those ducklings’ lives was not the source of the heat that hatched the eggs but the source of the seed that brought them forth. The sperm/egg came from a duck. Wow! That reminds of I Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God...” So how do you think this affects your new life in Christ?
The identity of those ducklings was not misplaced because they were hatched by a hen; I never called them chicks. Their origin affected their identity. No wonder the bible called us gods (Psalm 82:6), because we proceeded from Him. 1Cor. 15:47-48 sheds more light on this: “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.”
Those ducklings never behaved like chickens; they could swim even though the hen could not dare do that. Likewise, we should make it a priority to ensure that all our lives activity is aligned with our identity. We should be found doing miraculous things unbelievers cannot dare to do. We should also not be found messing around with sin. I John 3:9 (MSG) says “People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin. How could they?God’s seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It’s not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin.” Hallelujah!
To be continued …
– tope aladenusi
