“If It Looks Like a Duck, Swims Like a Duck, And Quacks Like A Duck, Then It Probably Is a Duck…..!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

The quote implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject’s habitual characteristics. Follow me I’m going somewhere with this.  It is sometimes used to counter abstruse, or even valid, arguments that something is not what it appears to be. Oh, help me Jesus! Ah…

Too many of us that claim we know we’ve been changed still come into church with the same old crippled walk, the same old dry praise, the same old mope, frown, and hung head. When you act like you know you’ve been changed, your posture will change. You’ll come into the house of God with your head held high, no matter what you’re facing, and every time you experience God making a change in your life you’ll have a new shout, new run, new holler. Acts 3: 1-3: 10 tell us that, “We gotta act like we know we’ve been changed!

When you act like you know you’ve been changed, you don’t have to wait for other people to do for you what you can do for yourself. Before the lame man experienced a change, he had to rely on others to carry him where he needed to go. When he got his change though he automatically was able to push himself to a place of praise and worship in God. When you really know you’ve been changed, you don’t have to wait for nobody else to push you to a mindset of praise and worship in God! You don’t have to wait for the preacher, ministers, choir, praise team, or musicians, to push and provoke you to praise, you’ll come in busting the door down with praise because you know you’ve been changed!

When you act like you know you’ve been changed, you don’t allow your location or those around you to control whether you act like you know or not. Notice that the man didn’t wait until he got beyond the vale to praise and worship God, but he started doing it at the temple gate! Too many of us that say we know we’ve been changed only act like it in the house of God if that. When you know you’ve been changed you don’t have to wait until you get into the house of God to give Him praise, but you’ll bust loose with praise anywhere! When you know you’ve been changed, you ain’t worried about whose around you, who’s watching you, or who’s talking about you, you just give God glory. Amen!

In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul says to the Corinthian church, “Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves (emphasis added).” If there is no evidence of salvation in your life now, you need to face the fact that you may not be a Christian. You need to examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. How does one do that? Compare your life with the standard Christ presents in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:7) One word summarizes His standard: Righteousness.

Remember, the scribes and Pharisees went to the Temple regularly, paid tithes, fasted, and prayed constantly. But Christ wasn’t impressed with their religious performance. God expects a transformation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” In Matthew 5:13-14 Christ referred to believers as “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” A Christian’s life- style will be easily distinguishable from the worlds. Is it evident to those around you that your life is different? Evidence of salvation is always present in a true believer. Meeting Jesus opens up a whole new world to a person. You have a new nature in your heart – a new influence in your life – new confidence and outlook on life… you laugh at impossibilities. There is a new sense of happiness, usefulness, honor, safety.

Here is the Lord’s challenge – “Let me take you, remold you, change you.” I tell you, “It doesn’t take much of a man to be a Christian, but it takes all of him there is.” “If It Looks Like a Duck, Swims Like a Duck, and Quacks Like a Duck, Then It Probably Is a Duck.

Author: Lou Coleman