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Day 4
To Catch a Mocking Bird
By Al Menconi
When
I was a little boy, I was fascinated
with birds. I really wanted to catch
one. I don’t know why. Why does
a five-year-old want to do anything?
One day I asked my mother how to catch
a bird. She made it sound so simple.
All I had to do was put some salt on
its tail and grab it! Don’t ask
me where she got this idea. It was probably
just her way of keeping me busy and out
of her hair.
I still remember propping up the cardboard
box with a stick, and spreading bread
crumbs under the box. I tied a string
to the stick and hid behind a bush nearby,
holding the string in one hand and a
saltshaker in the other. My mother got
her wish. I was out of her hair for hours
(it was probably minutes, but it felt
like hours), as I waited for a bird to
walk into my clever little trap!
Of course, I never came close to actually
catching a bird. However, I did eventually
learn a valuable lesson. Much later in
life, I discovered that God had written
this lesson down in Proverbs
1:17: “When
a bird sees a trap being set, it stays
away” (New Living Translation).
I think the birds in my neighborhood
must have been up on the telephone wires
watching me with my box and bread crumbs
and salt shaker - laughing their beaks
off! There was no way they were going
to get caught in a trap that obvious!
How does this apply to today’s
entertainment? Colossians 2:8 warns us
not to let others spoil our faith and
joy with their philosophies, wrong and
shallow answers based on men’s
thoughts and ideas instead of on what
Christ has taught. Isn’t that what
the majority of today’s entertainment
is? Some man or woman’s thoughts
and ideas set to a tune or put on a screen?
If these ideas are against what Christ
taught, and we continue to entertain
ourselves with them, the Bible says they
will eventually undermine our faith and
joy in Christ.
Have you ever pictured today’s
entertainment as crumbs? That is, crumbs
Satan uses to trap us? Think about it.
The world of entertainment is constantly
setting out crumbs of “sensational
fun” and “vicarious thrills” in
those clever boxes we call radios, TV’s,
and VCRs. All we have to do is join in
with them and consume their values and
ideas. But read Proverbs 1:10-19 carefully.
God warns us that if sinners try to entice
us, we should have the sense to stay
away. Don’t do it! It’s a
trap!
Reflection: Do you
tend to flee temptation or flirt with
it? Have you ever considered that channel
surfing is a way of flirting with temptation?
How about just casually surfing the net?
Have you ever been led into immoral or
unbiblical entertainment by following
some seemingly “harmless crumbs?” Do
we flee temptation, or do we dance under
the box picking up Satan’s crumbs?
Do we have enough sense to stay away?
Even the birds are smart enough to flee
such an obvious trap. Are we?
Response: Think about
a time you were “led into temptation” – although
it may seem to have happened all at once,
think about whether there were actually
some steps that led to your falling into
the trap. Number the steps and/or detail
some of the “bread crumbs” that
led to your “capture”. At
what point should you have stayed away?
At what point(s) could you have avoided
capture?
Verse of the Day: Psalm 1:1-2
"Blessed is the man who walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is the law of the Lord;
and in His law doth he meditate day
and night." (NAS)
Notice the progression of the traveler
as he gets more and more caught up in
sin. At first he starts walking in the
counsel of the ungodly. Then he stops
and stands listening more intently. Finally
he sits down and gets comfortable with
the scornful mockers and the ungodly
fools.
Isn’t this the progression for
those who are caught up in worldly entertainment?
At first it’s just a casual and
occasional interest. “They’re
good at what they do and besides, it
doesn’t affect me!” Then
it becomes more and more important to
them. “I’m going to their
concert. I never miss watching their
TV show. It’s only one sex scene
and it’s done tastefully.” Until
they finally identify wholeheartedly
with the values presented. “What’s
wrong with sex before marriage? It’s
only a little profanity. I have their
poster on my wall because I really like
what they stand for.”
This verse goes on to say that happiness
is more than just staying away from evil.
Our Christian walk is not indicated as
much by what we stay away from, as in
what we delight (take pleasure) in. We
are encouraged to delight ourselves in
the law of the Lord day and night. We
can do this by studying and memorizing
Scripture.
Another enjoyable way to delight in
His Word is by filling our hearts with
Christian music. When we listen with
our hearts, we will begin to see that
Christian music is much more than mere
entertainment. It can also be a means
to refocus our mind to be more like Christ
and to see life from His point of view.
What do you delight in? Every so often
people tell me they don’t listen
to any kind of music, Christian or secular.
What a shame! One of the most enjoyable
ways to delight yourself in the Word
of God is to add a tune to it (Christian
music).
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