Don't Feed The Birds

If you have ever eaten lunch at one of the restaurants at Coulon Beach on Lake Washington in Renton you have surely noticed the water foul hanging around hoping you will toss them something tasty.  The management has posted signs not to feed the birds because they become a nuisance.  Like many other wild animals, if you feed them they will tell their friends and before you know it you’ll no longer be able to enjoy your lunch.

There are certain types of birds that like to show up at church or wherever the word of God is being proclaimed because there is always a lot that gets discarded.  For sure on Sunday mornings you will find the fowls of the air waiting to steal the seed that is sown.  Jesus explained in a parable that when anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, but doesn’t understand it or can not conceive of it, the wicked one snatches it away preventing the hearer from profiting from the word.  (See Matthew 13:19)

Imagine if you will, each proclamation of God’s word being a check written from His account to the hearer.  Though God never bounces a check and His word never returns void, (See Isaiah 55:11) it can be rendered ineffective.  Though His checks are always good they only profit those who deposit them.  Anyone who lacks understanding and wisdom will not make it to the bank before the thief snatches it away. 

 There are several reasons the thief gets away with our blessing. We can develop an immunity of sorts to messages we hear often and take them lightly assuming they won’t add much to us.  There is always the message we wish brother so in so was hearing because he really needs it, while we miss it ourselves.  We might also disagree doctrinally or have misconceptions about the validity of the message.  Religious tradition also makes the word of God ineffective.  (See Matthew 15:6)  Some things the church has believed and taught as gospel is only hearsay.  We believed it because everybody seems to accept it as truth.  But when the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached some have trouble believing that His Kingdom should actually come and His will be done in this present time.  Too many have put off all those promises for a future millennium.  Having accepted error as truth can also make truth appear to be inaccurate.  All these are examples of leaving the check lay there allowing the thief to swoop in at steal it. 

Isn’t it ironic that the devil accuses God of the very thing he is about to do.  Before he introduced lack and poverty into the earth he accused God of being stingy.    God gave Adam and Eve rule over all the earth and they lacked no good thing.  The serpent managed to steal their authority by convincing them God had held back something good and to possess it they must eat of the forbidden tree.  As a result poverty, lack and death came into the world.  We see it yet today, so much of the devil’s work is blamed on God.  Though Christ has reversed the effects of Adam’s failure the thief still uses that same strategy against God’s people.  He will subtly suggest the reason we are deficient and lacking in areas of life is because God just hasn’t come through for us.  If we agree with him his next step is selling us on the forbidden fruit as the solution.  He has an ability to make his thievery appear that God never provided for us in the first place.  He keeps us powerless by snatching away the word of grace, the empowerment that is rightfully ours and then accuses God of not providing.   

 The devil builds a lie slowly from the ground up.  He is so subtle that he will turn our attention to things that we are used to, things that are part of this natural life.  He directs our focus toward things that we can identify with, but only exist because of his own lies in the garden.  He knows he can’t just barge in with a blatant lie but must slowly interject thoughts to prepare us for his next step.  He might start with, “I am getting older now”.  Then later it is “I can’t do all the things I used to.”  Or, “my memory isn’t what it used to be so I doubt God will ever use me in a significant way”.  Or he might point out other weaknesses in our lives insinuating they only exist because God is holding out on us.  He repeatedly speaks these things to reinforce them in our thinking.  His strategy is that we would blame God which in turn keeps us from receiving the necessary truth of God that restores our authority and confidence.   

It never dawned on me that accepting those thoughts was actually agreeing with the devil and even blaming God.  By the time I realized it he had stolen God’s promises right out from under my nose.  He managed to keep my attention on my deficiencies while he stole God’s solutions.  This went on for many years without my knowing it was an evil strategy.  I always believed those were my own thoughts because they were true to my natural senses and in fact I enjoyed an occasional pity party without understanding the price.  God is not moved by our whining but by faith.

So now I carefully examine each thought to determine the source.  I filter as it were thoughts to determine if they edify or add value to my life.  Though we are not to deny the natural realities of earthly life, faith sees the superior reality of heaven where there is no lack.  God will not emphasize or dwell on the problem but the solution.  His words are spirit and they are life.  They will always give hope and add value.   I immediately reject thoughts that draw my attention to self deficiencies.  I am fed up with the wicked one getting away with my blessings.  New management has moved in so to speak and has posted signs, Do not Feed the Birds.