“Birds of a feather flock together” is an old adage that describes how people tend to hang out with those who are similar to themselves. On the surface it seems like it would be a good thing because we all know how comforting it is to feel a part of and accepted by those we esteem, but it can also create boundaries that stifle us from growing and feeling compassion and mercy for those outside the flock, and sometimes even for those within the flock who aren’t exactly…um…what is expected.
Sometimes there are different names for the same type of birds. Doves and pigeons, for example, are both members of the Columbidae bird family but doves carry a pleasant connotation of peace and love, while pigeons are thought of as dirty pests. How strange that these birds, members of the same family that are both made by God, could create such opposite perceptions. I wonder if the birds have such prejudice against each other. Do the doves welcome the pigeons to their tree? Do the pigeons call the doves to feed with them? I wonder if their poop looks the same.
Do you have an idea of what I’m getting at?
We in the body of Christ are called to unity. We are a family designated by God. We are not the same and yet, we are. Some of us have wicked pasts, some don’t. Some of us are rough around the edges; some have learned the softness of being gentle. Some are quietly reverent; some unabashedly praise. Some LOOK more conservative than others, but they aren’t. Some are forgiving, and some haven’t found that part of their heart yet. Some give abundantly of their gifts and some haven’t yet discovered their gifts to give. Some use fancy words to pray, and some are so simple a five year old could understand every word. Some live their words, and others…..don’t.
It is through the Grace of God that all believers in Jesus Christ who call ourselves “Family” can actually love each other as Jesus calls us to love. No aesthetic difference, no faux pas, no mistake, no immaturity, no intellectual deficit, no financial deficiency, or lack of social skills should ever pull apart the family of Jesus Christ. We are all His children. Amen.
So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Romans 12:5
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See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:1-2
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So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2: 19-22
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Trudging the path He has given me….
A LIVING STONE 