Losing Our Freedom Little By Little

Allan and Debra Hirsch in their book on discipleship named, Untamed, begins their book with this parable.
One day long ago in a Middle Eastern country their lived a white skylark. This skylark enjoyed flying high and swooping in joyous loops about the sky. One day as he swooped near the earth he heard a merchant cry out, “Worms! Worms! Worms for feathers! Delicious worms!” The skylark circled the merchant. He looked at the worms and they were some of the most juicy and delicious worms he had ever seen.
Unbeknownst to the skylark the merchant was the devil.
The skylark became interested. So the merchant motioned the skylark closer. “Look at the delicious worms. See the lovely worms I have”. Cautiously the skylark came closer. He did realize he was hungry. The skylark said to himself, these are the best worms I have ever seen. “Two worms for one feather” said the merchant.
The skylark was unable to resist. After all, he had many feathers. So with a swift motion, he pulled out his smallest feather and gave it to the merchant. “Take your pick my little friend…any two your hearts desire.! The skylark promptly snatched up two of the plumpest, juiciest worms and swallowed her meal with delight. Never before had she tasted such wonderful worms. With a loud chirp she leap into the air and resumed her joyful flight.
Day after day the skylark returned. And always the merchant had wonderful worms to offer: black ones and blue ones, red ones and green ones, all fat and shiny and iridescent. But one day, after eating her fill, the skylark leapt again into the air—and to her horror, she fell back to the ground with a thud. She was unable to fly!
At once, with a shock, she realized what had happened. From eating the delicious worms she had grown fatter and fatter; and she had plucked her feathers one by one, first her body, then her tail, and finally her very wings had grown balder and balder. Horrified, she remembered how slowly and imperceptibly, day by day, it had been harder and harder to fly, and how she had told herself it was no problem. She could always stop before it was too late.
Now suddenly, here she was, trapped on the ground. She looked up and saw the merchant looking at her. Was that a small sly grin spreading across his face? He grabbed the now helpless bird, and put her into a cage and walked away laughing.
We are reminded, you can’t make bargains with the devil. Tragically, like the skylark, little by little we give up our freedoms in Christ, only to end up in a cage made of a thousand little compromises. Not only had Christ made us free, but He has given us the power to maintain that freedom.
The Hirsch’s say that we have to learn to think differently about discipleship. We must attack the underlying problems of becoming like Christ. We have not changed the way people think and believe about living for Christ.