Meat was scarce during World War II. To provide meat for the family, my father built a chicken house and started raising chickens. He would buy the chicks when they were very young and feed and raise them. Some were for eating, and some were for producing eggs.
As a little chick began to grow feathers, sometimes there would be an open wound at its tail. When this happened, the other chicks would peck at the wound until, finally, the bleeding chick would die if it was left with the flock.
One year we had two chicks with this problem, so my father took them out of the chicken house and let them run loose. We gave them food and water and a box they could run into for protection. They seemed to do quite well on their own and soon followed a regular path around the yard, keeping close to the house, shed and bushes for protection.
We named these two chickens Pete and Charlie, and as they grew, they looked quite different from their early, downy features. One developed into a White Leghorn—a smaller chicken; the other was a White Plymouth Rock - a larger stocky chicken. This didn’t bother them; the outcasts were good buddies. When one found a bug or something else good to eat, he would give a clucking call for the other to come and join in. They enjoyed daily dust baths and gave alarm calls when a cat or dog came into the yard. They seemed to be doing so well and enjoying their freedom that we decided not to shut them back in the chicken house with the other chickens. This decision led to their destruction.
One day we missed them. We looked everywhere, but Pete and Charlie must have wandered too far from safety, and an enemy - a weasel or raccoon - had gotten them. We never saw them again.
Are you, younger or older person, spending your time in the pleasures and bright lights of this world which only last a short time? Did you know that the devil rules the entertainment world? He is the enemy of your soul. First Peter 5:7 says to “[cast] all your care upon [Jesus]; for He [cares] for you.” Then the very next verse warns: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary [enemy] the devil, as a roaring lion, [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour.” If we had put Pete and Charlie back in with the other chickens, they would have been safe. But they were enjoying their freedom which led them away from safety and ended in their destruction. The enemy was stalking them, but they were unaware of it. Are you like our wandering chickens? Are you thirsting for the entertainments of this world that will only lead you deeper into the devil’s territory and can never satisfy your thirst?
Won’t you by faith accept the work that Jesus completed on the cross, suffering for sin, so that you can have everlasting life with Him in heaven? Escape the everlasting destruction that awaits those who leave this world still in their sins. Proverbs 27:2020Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. (Proverbs 27:20) warns, “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.” Turn your eyes to Jesus. He will satisfy your thirst.
ML-05/18/2003