The Christmas Chicken

There were once two chickens who belonged to the same coop. They were brought in at the same time, however they didn't have the same fates.

One of them was chosen as a pet, and the other was selected to be Christmas dinner.

Neither one of them knew this.

All they knew was that one chicken was getting fed a little more than the other. His meals came sooner and his feed was richer. A lot of the things done for him seemed to be better but ultimately, what hurt her the most was the fact that when anything happened, they would usually check on him first.

She watched this happen with sadness.

She observed how her feed was regular, how not as much fuss was made over her, how nobody stopped to admire her on the way out the barn, and most of all she despised that she didn’t have a shiny metal house like he did. She despised her freedom and longed desperately for the cages of the soon-to-be Christmas dinner.

Eventually she asked the question everybody who feels overlooked eventually asks: Why do they not love me the way they love him?

Wrong question.

She was measuring her worth in feed portions, oblivious to the larger play at hand.

That other chicken wasn't loved more.

He was being prepared.

Prepared to be eaten.

We do this a lot

We watch the world's version of success get fatter and fatter. Richer and richer. We see how they get the platforms quicker, how the money seems to gravitate toward them easier, and we watch red eyed as doors keep swinging open for “these people who don't even believe.”

Somewhere along the way, some of us in frustration even begin wondering if righteousness was ever really all it's cut out to be.

"The other guys don't have it, but they seem to be better off than me," our hearts cry.

Yes of course some fattening is favor, as is customary with the Lord. But many fattenings, especially the sudden and unsystematic ones? Those are a countdown to destruction.

Understand this: Satan and his systems do not give blessings. He fattens for his own consumption. The trick, though, is that in the beginning, and for a while after, growth from fattening and growth from blessings can look eerily identical, but distinguishing them matters because getting fatter isn’t the problem.

Prosperity is God's idea. Increase is God's idea. Abundance is God's idea.

The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow with it.

The question is: what is the fattening for?

For purpose by the creator? Or for consumption by the deceiver?

Judge not merely by increase. Observe the hand feeding it, the system sustaining it, what it is producing in you, what it requires from you, and ultimately, where it is taking you.

Sometimes the difference between blessing and bait is not what is being offered, it is what it intends to eventually collect

This is more than unequal portions

The extra feed isn’t merely something he enjoys before his destruction. It prepares him forit. Every larger portion prepares him for his destruction, making him more suitable for the fattener’s belly.

Success void of God or worldly success often works the same way.

A man can prosper without God, and his prosperity becomes evidence to him that he infact does not need God. Another door opens, and his confidence in himself grows that much more. More money comes, and dependence becomes increasingly unnecessary. Influence grows, and with the  increase of applause towards the very person who desperately needs to be corrected, his fate solidifies even more. Every success seems to confirm the same fatal conclusion: I am fine. I am better off.

It’s not really just about money, the platform or the success inherently. It is about what they feed in him.

Pride gets fatter.

Self-sufficiency gets fatter.

Appetite gets fatter.

The illusion that life without God is working gets fatter.

And all the while, the Christian standing outside the shiny cage (but a cage nonetheless) wonders why God seems to be withholding from her, not realizing that this kind of fatness is not random nor kind.

It is strategic.

Every platform with visibility and influence serves an agenda. Never, ever the person standing on it.

We saw this when Satan took Jesus in his mind to a high place and offered him the kingdoms of the world. That wasn't a gift, it  was a setup! The height was chosen very deliberately, tall enough to guarantee the fall would be devastating enough.

Of what profit is it to gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

That chicken's perceived obscurity was never neglect. It was protection. She was being fattened too, but hers was a slow and steady fattening of love and growth.

Dear Christian, if you've ever wondered why the "successful" people of the world seem to be moving “just fine” without the Lord Jesus…

If you've ever even slightly resented your own salvation because your unsaved counterpart seemed to be progressing so much faster than you…

I need you to hear this.

Not all growth is grace. Not all fattening is favor. Some of it is just a shorter route to the deceiver’s knife.

Christmas is always coming.

And their bellies just keep getting bigger.