Sing Out a Warning In the cool of the evening my four-year-old granddaughter and I sat quietly on the front porch. In the trees surrounding the house birds were chirping and singing. A red-tailed hawk floated overhead, turning easy circles in the sky, making his characteristic ‘kee-eeeee-arrh.’ A songbird twittered her tune from a concealed spot in the branches. Hidden in the underbrush a California Quail repeated his plaintive call. “The birds sound so pretty,” my granddaughter whispered. “They are singing God’s praises,” I answered. We continued to listen. “I hear a dove,” my granddaughter announced after hearing the familiar ‘coo-OO-oo; coo-OO-oo; coo-OO-oo.’ Most bird songs are pleasant to the human ear. Yet often their actual intent is to convey alarm, a warning of impending peril, or to announce the presence of a predator. These bird songs are sometimes a reminder to their children, ‘come home, it’s safe over here’ or, ‘danger, stay away.’ Whatever the meaning, the language of most birds is pleasant to our ears. Christians need not always breathe fire and brimstone when they declare God’s message. Perhaps we could we be more like birds when we speak. Perhaps the world around us might hear pleasant words from our mouths. Is there a way we can speak the truth in a manner that is clear and palatable to human ears – even the ears of a wretched sinner. Kids for the Kingdom encourages ministry teams to clothe themselves with ‘compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience’ ( Colossians 3:12). Instead of beginning a conversation with ‘you are a sinner,’ our workers often begin their first contact by saying ‘you are wonderfully created in the image of God.’ After showing them that their life is truly valued by God, then they let them know they have fallen short and God wants to redeem them. May we be like songbirds as we declare the truth to the world around us.‘How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him’ ( Psalm 147:1). ‘Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good, sing praises to His name, for that is pleasant. - Psalm 135:3 Greg Dabel International Director Kids for the Kingdom
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 19:11:05 +0000
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