07/23/2024
Anything but Flamboyant
I opened the box with barely controllable excitement! Inside was the very first dozen mallard decoys I'd ever owned. I was young and couldn't buy the top shelf stuff so I bought some affordable decoys that promised they were "pro-grade" and looked really nice. I couldn't believe how great they looked for the price I paid. I strung them up, wrapped some lead weights around their necks and listened to the sweet sound of plastic bouncing off plastic as I threw them into an equally cheap decoy bag.
Later the next day after hunting over my very own decoys I retrieved them from the water. To my disappointment I could see that the paint had began to chip off of them after just one use and the black plastic they were made of began to show through. I couldn't believe it! How could anyone offer such a poor quality item?
Much like my low priced decoys many people look amazing just out of the baptismal box. Unfortunately, as the weights begin to be placed on their shoulders and they enter deeper waters facing real-life trials the paint chips begin to fall. Often the most flamboyant "paint jobs" are nothing but a cheap coating in attempt to cover the dark hollow form that still exists beneath them. Sadly, their half hearted immersion was nothing more than a misguided attempt at blending in or a quick fix with no intention of a lasting commitment.
True commitment... like good decoy paint is not for display purposes. True faith is a part of us. True faith holds strong when the weights attempt to wrap themselves around our necks, when life throws us into its cheap bag with others who attempt to rub us the wrong way and throughout any length of time spent in deep water.
Much like the paint of our most beloved decoys, the ones that last a lifetime, true faith is not layered over a hollow dark form by any human means. It is embedded within by the greatest of all master craftsman. It permeates our entire being as His Holy gift re-molds us from the inside out and He stands behind His work 100%.
I make the comparison to decoys because it's useful in making my point but you are so much more to Him. You, as a child of God in complete surrender of the mold you were born into, being led by Him and following hard after Him daily are unlike any decoy on the market! You, as His beloved creation are not for sale.
As a child of God you've already been paid for and He paid the highest price for you because He knows that you are worth it. Through Jesus You've been redeemed from the mold the world has sought to place you in and returned to the identity you once had before Adam ate the fruit in the garden. God has purchased you from this world with the blood of His only begotten son and not only does He believe you are worth it, you've been covered in it, saturated with it and re-molded from the inside out and that is something that last a lifetime!
(Jay W)
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Genesis 2:7 NIV
“Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
John 20:21-22 NIV
Thereby making peace with the Father and removing man from the curse of his fall caused by (Adam) the first man. The sacrifice of Jesus returned man to the moment he was formed in the garden, once again allowing the Father to see man (covered in righteousness by the blood of the Christ) as Holy, blameless and without reproach.
“So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20 NIV
(Copied and pasted)
