When I was a boy, sometime between the ages of 9 and 12, I remember the home where we lived in China Lake.  I caught a baby sparrow outside in our yard.  Apparently it had fallen from its nest.  It had not yet learned to fly, although it was fully fledged.  It had all of its feathers, but was limited to hopping on the ground.  I brought the bird to my father, and like any boy, asked if I could keep it.  My father said "Well, if it can't fly, you can keep it until it can."  At that point, my dad took the bird and tossed it into the air.  The bird began to flap its wings and flew away.

Thinking back, I guess that the little bird would have died on the ground, had it not been launched into the air.  It was fully equipped to fly, but until it was launched it could not learn how.

Sometimes, I feel that this happens to Christians.  God created us for good works. (Eph 2:10).  With the Scriptures He thoroughly furnished every Christian for every good work. (2 Tim 3: 16&17).  We are fully fledged.  He makes each of us able to mount up on wings like eagles. (Is 40: 31)  We are intended to soar, but often we don't leave the ground, either by not launching into the work, or not launching into the study, and quite often we do neither.  The way I see it, we're all like the little bird.  Either we launch ourselves into the work and study, and thereby soar, or we die on the ground.