From a sermon I heard a couple of weeks ago

A farmer found a large egg in his field, brought it home and put it under his setting hen. It hatched out with the others, producing a large, scraggily baby. The farmer wasn’t sure what it was, but by the time it was 3 months old, it was obvious that it was an eagle.

However, no one told the young bird that it was an eagle, so it behaved just like all its companions. It pecked in the dirt, walked about the chicken yard and roosted in the coop at night. It had no idea of its capacity to fly, soar, hunt and eat wild game.  The eagle spent its life on the ground, acting like a chicken, dying like a chicken.

This is what many Christians are like. They come to Christ in a church where everyone acts like a chicken, so they act the same.  How do chickens act? They have a flock mentality, all doing the same thing.  If the flock attacks one member, they all attack, pecking it to death. Mother hens are noted for protecting their young, but once the young are grown, the hen will attack it if the rest of the flock does so. If the flock has no water, they may peck at each other to get blood to drink. They look down, not up, picking grains off the floor to eat, and then eating them again after they’ve been through their system. They fight over little things: they all want the same grain of corn. They don’t look up, or try their wings or try anything new.  They live in fear, huddling together to the point where they can smother each other.

Eagles, however, are fundamentally different.  They think wide and high. They work as a team, building their nest together, feeding their young together, and cooperate in teaching them to fly. They look around them and notice what is going on. They take chances. They try new things. They eat a wide variety of food. They fly high and wide, using the currents to carry them far.

Christians who live like eagles look to Jesus for their model, not the flock. They help others rather than attacking the weak. They cooperate, leaving the old behind, forgiving and letting go. They use the winds of opposition to lift them closer to God, higher in their ministry, wider in their vision.  They see the beauty around them and thrive on it. They stay strong to the end.

“…those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

So which will you be? A chicken or an eagle?