A chicken is chicken whether it is a prairie chicken, a road runner, a guinea hen, or a broiled one from Tesco’s rotisserie. As a kid part of my chores was to feed and care for a dozen roosters. They were noisy, feisty, and very dumb. Instead of eating food from a trough they preferred to peck at garbage on the ground of their coop. Sometimes we Christians are like that; preferring to peck at crumbs under the banquet table rather than the delectable food set before us by the Lord.
A hen came across an egg in a field. Thinking it was her own, she sat on it and hatched it. Surprisingly the egg produced a baby eagle. The mother hen shrugged and raised the young one just as she raised the rest of her brood. Though the young bird was an eagle he took upon himself the nature and characteristics of a chicken. He pecked garbage, strutted and cackled just like the rest of the flock. His friends, brothers and sisters were chickens. It never occurred to him to be something different. He was part of the flock.
One day the young chicken/eagle looked up into the sky and saw a magnificent, majestic bald eagle soaring on the wind currents. The chicken/eagle felt an emotional stirring within him. He let out a shriek and said, “Oh, I wish I could fly like that.” His nearby mother responded, “Forget it son. That’s a bald eagle. He was made to soar. You’re just a chicken!” So the young chicken/eagle turned away and never lifted his wings to fly. He settled for mediocrity. He never knew his true identity or the potential he had within him.
The Scripture asks in Psalm 8:4, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” It then answers in verse five “Yet you have made him a little lower than God.” Imagine that! A little lower than God! Made in His image! That’s who we are! Isaiah 40:31 tells us, “They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles…” The word “wait” in the Greek is “quira.” It means to bind together by twisting. With God, Unbreakable! Unlike chicken characteristics we have God characteristics bred in us by the Holy Spirit.
- Our power source is different.
- Our motivation is different.
- Our inspiration is different.
- Our goals are different.
- Our behaviour is different.
So spread your wings like an eagle and fly!
By Gordon Kler