The chicken and the Pig

Our Pastor, Tom Glisson, spoke about us either being a PIG or a CHICKEN with regards to our committment to Jesus Christ. Before I say more I would like to share with you the scripture text that was used today in church.

1 ¶ I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of Godwhat is good and acceptable and perfect.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;
8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Our pastor spent several moments talking about the difference between making a decision and being committed. He used the example of an airline pilot who makes the decision to line up his aircraft and point it down the runway. He decides to rev up the engines and cause the aircraft to leap into the air and take off. Once the airline pilot pushes the throttles forward and moves the plane towards the end of the runway he will come to a point where he is committed to making this actually happen. The aircraft will reach a specific speed in which the pilot will have to take off and if he does not the plane will not be able to slow down and will probably result in a crash. First there is the decision to do it and then there is a committment to see the act through. Our pastor likened this to marriage. The statistics tell us that 50% of marriages in America fail. Why is that you ask? One of the reasons is a lack of total committment.

Ok, lets get back to the PIG and the chicken and the story that was told by our pastor today. The pig and chicken are walking down the road and they see a sign that is advertising a ham and egg breakfast and the proceeds for this breakfast will be donated to a childrens fund. The chicken looks at this and says to the pig. " Hey lets be a part of this event , I can donate some eggs". The pig was not quite so enthusiastic as the chicken and said " Hey, wait a dogone minute chicken, you can donate an egg or two and keep on going, if I donate I will have to give my all." As you can see, the pig was going to have to sacrifice his all so that ham could be a part of the meal. There was a committment needed unto death. There was no turning back or regrets.

So, with regards to our faith in Christ and our committment to the bretheren are we "chickens" or are we "pigs". If you are a christian and identify with the GRACE and MERCY of God then you have probably called Jesus your Savour. The million dollar question is "have you given Christ your heart and allowed him to be LORD of all in your life?"

In other words do we only give sparse gifts that do not really require a sacrifice (time, talents, property) and is convenient at the time or do we give Christ ALL of ourselves. Are we willing to SACRIFICE everything to be a follower of Jesus Christ and to be obedient to his word, lovers of God and true brothers and sisters who love their neighbors as themselves?