Issue 1486 – Chickens – June 29, 2024
“There ain’t nobody here but us chickens” was a popular jump blues, swing-style song that received heavy radio play in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was originally recorded in the 1940s and subsequently redone many times.
That tune popped up on something online recently and reminded me of something that happened years ago.
It was prayer time at Friday night’s cowboy church service. We had shared our joys and prayer concerns, and I had just settled into leading us in prayer. Suddenly, I was distracted by the sound of chickens.
“Chickens?” I thought, “Why am I hearing chickens?” It totally derailed my thinking. I said out loud, “I hear chickens.” By then, the entire congregation was laughing. It was indeed the sound of chickens. Someone had left their cell phone on, with chickens as a ringtone. They were frantically trying to find their phone and turn it off.
I could have probably ignored it if it had been a normal cell phone ring or an infant crying.
I could even have ignored the sound of chickens in some places we have met that had chickens on site. The sound of chickens in our little strip mall location was just too out of place to ignore.
Some of Jesus’s teachings were like my chicken noises. To the hearers in His day and even today, the message was so contrary to the way people think that it brought them up short. If they don’t make you stop and think, you have grown immune to their radical nature and need to rethink them.
Jesus’s teachings are revolutionary and life-changing. Where they have been followed, they have changed the world. I believe that the core of His teachings comes down to two things.
Firstly, we all need a savior, and that is Jesus.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;[a] believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:1-7
That concept alone should cause us to come up short and think. No one comes to Father except by Christ? That kind of exclusive thinking was offensive to many then and remains offensive to many even today. It is still true even if it offends those who choose to reject it.
Secondly is the call to love.
And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40
Love God will all of our heart, soul and mind? What about my stuff? What about my career? What about all the other things in my life? Am I truly to love God first? Absolutely! God first, and everything else comes in far behind.
Do I love my neighbor? I do not even know most of my neighbors. Some of the neighbors that I do know I do not like, but I love them anyway.
That philosophy is contrary to everything the world teaches us. The world pays lip service to the so-called golden rule of “Do under others as you would have them do unto you,” but in reality, it tells us to “do unto others before they get a chance to do it to you.” The world teaches self-first above everything and everyone else. The world teaches that it is okay to only love those who love you.
Jesus says that is wrong. We are to love them all. He even tells us to pray for our enemies.
Just as I could not ignore the sound of chickens that evening, we cannot ignore Jesus’s teachings. If His teachings do not startle you, your heart is hard, or you have grown complacent. This is radical stuff.
Until next time, may the words of Christ pull you up short and grab your full attention.
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
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Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)