The Rooster’s Spur
When I was a
small girl, my Papa Nixon owned a few chickens.
Their pen was attached to his workshop.
While I had no business messing around with the chickens, I did so
frequently and they often escaped their enclosure as a result. It wasn’t long before Papa decided to get rid
of his flock altogether.
As I grew
older I began to spend a great deal of my time with the Brooks family in
Cameron and my love affair with chickens was renewed. Archie Brooks, was raising his 3 daughters and
1 son to know the value of self-reliance and an appreciation for the simple
farm life. Milking cows and gathering
eggs were a part of their daily chores.
I adored helping with their little brood of gentle laying hens. This world lost a gem when Archie Brooks went
home to his savior, but he left behind a Godly legacy in his children and
grandchildren….and he infused his love of small farm life into his family and a
great number of neighbor kids like myself.
When I married,
I was fortunate enough to find myself a farm-boy of my own, one that had grown
up in Chatham County and knew chickens from beak to feet. So, we kept our own little flock for many
years.
Anyone that
has ever owned chickens can tell you that the blessing of fresh eggs does come
with its challenges. From protecting the
chickens from predators, to protecting them from disease and each other, a
poultry owner must be vigilant. Too,
there is the occasional 10 foot tall and bullet proof rooster that is willing
to pit his 12 pound, 2 foot tall body against that of a full grown man or
woman. Many times I have been spurred
when accidentally turning my back on the wrong rooster.
One such
rooster and I battled often. He got to
where he was brave enough to flog me even when I was facing him. I carried a rake into the pen to shield
myself from his attacks at feeding time.
The one time that I did take a swing at him and actually made contact, I
became sick to my stomach with guilt at hitting the little guy, and decided I
needed to disarm him in order to disarm myself.
Now this
rooster had uncut spurs. He was a Rhode
Island Red with large legs with long, sharp spurs. They were so long, in fact, that they
affected how he walked. Try to picture
this with me. To avoid scratching one
leg with the spur from the opposite leg, the rooster had taken to walking with
a sort of bicycle peddling type step. He
would slid one foot backwards, then up, then forward and down and then repeat
with the other foot. It had to be tiring
and somewhat clumsy for him. It slowed
him down and kept him from running. He
looked awkward and comical.
My husband,
Kevin, and I have a friend from West Virginia, Chad Lester. I have always admired Chad’s no-nonsense way
with animals. One day when he was at the
house, the subject of that rooster came up.
He offered to cut the spurs on the rooster to help him walk better and
make him less dangerous for me.
So, he
grabbed a pair of clippers and without hesitation, walked right up to that
bowed up rooster, flipped him upside down, and with two strong snaps removed
the spurs and plopped him unceremoniously back onto the pen floor.
I think that the quick human tilt-a-whirl ride
that day that ended with his weapons being swiftly removed gave that old
rooster a renewed respect for people.
From that point forward he always remained out of hands reach. But, I could not help but notice his walk
over the weeks and months that followed.
That had not changed. He still
walked with his bicycle pedal stride.
The spurs were gone. He was no
longer in danger of scrapping his little rooster ankles with his own sharp nails,
yet he still walked as if they were there....still awkward, still clumsy, still
slow… He was free of the spurs and the
pain they inflicted, yet he was still being held back by the memory of his past
condition.
What about
me? Is there anything about the old me
that still trips me up today? The pain I
once endured or even caused in the past….is that pain still causing me to act
as though I still hurt? Sins I have
committed in the past, is the guilt of them still haunting me? Do I somehow still feel chained to the old,
pre-Christ, worldly me?
What about
you? Are you struggling with coming out
from under the weight of choices you made in the past? Have you caused yourself pain over the years
that still hurts you to this day? Are
you having trouble forgiving yourself for sinful acts or thoughts you indulged
in before you came to know Christ? Are
you a prisoner behind the bars of the old you?
The Bible is
clear, you do NOT have to carry the burden of your pre-Christ self. You are a new creation….free from the worldly
bonds of shame and the chains of self-condemnation.
Please open your Bibles
and read along with me 2 Corinthians 5:11 NIV Version
11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try
to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to
your conscience. 12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are
giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who
take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we
are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one
died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live
for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of
view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:a The old has gone, the new
is here! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not
counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of
reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making
his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sinb for us, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.
What you just heard just now….isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that freeing? Didn’t it stir your soul?
I love how the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that if he is
out of his mind, as some have accused him of being, then he is out of his mind
for God. Folks, when you pull away from
the world and begin to display a passion for Christ, you will be called crazy,
a religious nut, a Jesus freak---you name it.
I love how Paul doesn’t defend himself against the accusation, he owns
it.
In particular I want you to recall this line, “For Christ’s love
compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all
died.” Did you catch that? Paul is saying that because Christ died for
all of us, all of us died. He reminds us
that because Jesus died for all of us, we are to no longer live for ourselves,
but are to live for Him. So, if we died,
then the old “us” died…..that old sinful, condemned, hurt and hurting self
died. The new, alive you is no longer
living that old life, but rather a new life in Christ----free from
condemnation.
Paul also brings up a very important point…if we are no longer
bound to our old, worldly self, then we are to remember that other Christians
are enjoying that same freedom and we are not to recall or judge them by their
pre-Christ character and choices. We are
a new creation in Christ and so are our Christian brothers and sisters. The old you died…..the new you lives and is
liberated from guilt, from shame, from bondage.
Paul comforts the Corinthians with the reassurance that through
Christ’s sacrifice, God reconciled us to Him, it is not His intent to count our
sin’s against us. As reconciled children
to a loving Father, as the saved people of a risen Christ, we are to act as
ambassadors --- to reach out to others in love and the knowledge that an
eternal life and a freedom from a sentence of death is available through
Christ. We are to share with those held
in worldly bonds that we gained our freedom, our fresh new start, through a
renewing relationship with Christ.
Did you hear Paul? Did
you really HEAR him? Did you hear him tell you that you are free? The old you died. You cannot continue to hold yourself back by
old choices. Paul said your relationship
with Christ has made you a new person.
Will you claim that freedom and shed those painful shackles that hold
you to the old ways and the old shame?
Yes, my rooster was just a testy, odd, old bird, but was he any
different from the rest of us? He had
learned to walk a certain way to avoid causing himself pain from the spurs on
his legs. Those spurs handicapped
him. When he was free from the spurs, he
still remained handicapped by them. It
was sad to watch, but, no sadder than watching a Christian refuse to permit him
or herself from enjoying a glorious new life in Jesus, his bicycle pedal walk
no more uncalled for than a clean and sober Christian still clinging to the
shame of past years of drug and alcohol abuse, his clumsy steps no more
unnecessary than a Godly woman refusing to testify to her walk with Christ
because of remorse over a scandalous youth.
The rooster was set free,
but wouldn’t embrace his liberty. You
are free….don’t follow the rooster’s example, follow Paul’s guidance
instead! Accept that you are a new
creation in Christ and enjoy the freedom that is completely yours as a result
of Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf.
Father,
Because the old us died on that cross with Christ, we are able to enjoy full
freedom from condemnation. We want to
remember this daily. Please help
us. Help us not to dwell in the dark
past, but walk in Christ’s light. Help
us to remove the shackles from our wrists and chains from our ankles that once
bound us to our history of painful regret and put us on a path of complete
liberty and reconciliation.
It is in the
name of Jesus we pray, Amen
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