Headless Chickens

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented
him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
Romans 3:23-25 NIV

     Grandpa propped his ax against the tree stump and stood watching the headless chicken race around the back yard. I was eight. Although my eyes saw, my brain did not comprehend the reality of the vision before me, and it would be years before I understood that death and life remain inextricably connected.

     Today, with the infiltration of television into almost every room in our homes, it is not unusual to see with our eyes what our brain does not immediately comprehend. I often catch myself taking a second look and asking, “Did I really see what I thought I saw?” Our senses are bombarded with war and violence—all eloquently covered by our nightly news crews.

     Driving down our highways has become a visual enter at your own risk experience. Billboards and flashing colored lights are meant to entice us to sin. Too many find the temptation irresistible.

     In the midst of the mess of life, it is easy to look at others and judge their behavior, their lack of character or their inability to keep it together. But I have come to realize that when I judge others, I am like that chicken with its head cut off—my brain is no longer connected to my heart.

     God’s Word does not tell us that some of us fall short of the glory of God or that some of us need redemption through the blood of Jesus. God’s Word says that all have sinned and all fall short of God’s glory, and that redemption is for all through faith in the blood of Christ. I have sinned, fallen short and disappointed God.

     I am glad God made a way to save me from myself, my poor decisions and my inability to say no to sin. That way is the shed blood of Jesus. He is the only way to God. His death resulted in my possibility—and yours—to have life eternal. His power to save reaches into every crevice of darkness in our sin-sick world.

     Without salvation through Jesus Christ, we are all like that headless chicken on my grandfather’s farm—dead men walking. In Christ alone, we are made alive and whole.