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Genuine Faith

I enjoy old episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. One of my favorites is called: Opie the Birdman. This heartfelt story is about Opie (Andy’s young son) who receives a sling shot for a gift. Andy warns him to be careful using it. Opie in excited boyish fashion takes his sling shot in tow, aiming and shooting randomly throughout the neighborhood. A hapless shot however lands him in distress, when he “accidentally” hits and kills a mother bird in the tree in their front yard. Opie at first is filled with disbelief at what just happened, as well as, shaken and sorrowful for his actions. However his immediate
thought is to run inside ignoring the fatality of what he
has done.

Later that evening, as Andy enters the house, he finds the dead bird on the lawn. At supper he comments about the baby birds chirping for their mother and surmises the neighbor’s cat must have killed the mother bird. At this point Opie’s guilt boils over, he runs to his room with Andy soon following.

Wise Andy then goes to Opie and investigates the situation. Opie, with tear filled eyes, soon confesses he accidentally killed the Mama bird. Andy reminded Opie that he had warned him to be careful with the sling shot. He affirmed Opie’s sorrow but told him “I’m sorry” won’t feed those baby birds tonight as they call for their mother. Andy then opens the window to drive home the point and stress the severity of Opie’s actions.

The next day Opie has a solution. He will feed and raise the birds to adulthood and then let them go. (Youtube the episode for the rest of the story.)

This story is rich in spiritual parallels.

Often when we sin and it adversely impacts others (which most of the time it does), we think an “I’m sorry” will “fix” things and we can go about our merry way. Not true. In Opie’s situation the result of his carelessness were hungry baby birds with no mother to feed them, and certain death their end, unless someone stepped in and filled the gap.
James 2:14-17 (ESV) speaks to this situation.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Read the rest of the chapter for more rich insights on how we should live as Christ’s children.

Genuine faith displayed by true followers of Christ results in action. It doesn’t mean we will always make the right choice, but when we do mess up we need to recognize our failure, seek forgiveness from our Heavenly Father and the person(s) we have wronged, and try to make restitution.

The old adage “Actions speak Louder than Words” rings true and speaks to our true character. This character is developed as we draw closer each
day to a loving God, who transforms and fashions us in His image as we surrender to His will. (Romans 12:1-2).

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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