Joel found another bird! Perhaps some of you remember a story not long ago that told how he found a young dove and how the dove taught us a lesson about peace. This time the bird he found was a big black grackle, and it taught us a different lesson.
Joel found it as we arrived at the house of our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Lyons. Our three children quickly called the Lyons’s children, and soon we were all gathered around the bird.
At first we thought its wing was hurt, but soon we realized that the wing was fine, but the bird was very sick.
You may already know that a grackle is not a pretty bird like a robin or a cardinal. They are not well-liked where we live. There are too many of them, and they are noisy pests most of the time.
As we stood around the sick bird everyone had the same idea.
“I think we should put it out of its misery,” said one.
“The world’s better off with one less grackle,” said another.
“Maybe we should just bury it,” said a third.
To our surprise, Mrs. Lyons came out of the house with a towel in her hand. She planned to rescue the bird! “I have a friend who works for the Bird Rescue Center,” she explained. “They rescue birds of all kinds. Please call my friend while I wrap the bird in this towel.”
She gently wrapped the bird in the towel, and Mr. Lyons went to the phone while the rest of us looked on in amazement. She was going to save a grackle?... a worthless bird?
But even kind Mrs. Lyons must have had a little doubt because she called after her husband, “Ask them if it makes any difference if it’s a grackle.” We thought it most certainly would make a difference. Surely not even the Bird Rescue Center would want to save a grackle!
We were wrong. They said to bring the grackle over! So as we shook our heads in unbelief, our friends got into the car to take the sick grackle to the Bird Rescue Center.
As we thought about the kindness of the Lyons to this bird, thoughts of a greater love came to our minds.
God has proved His love to boys and girls “sick” with sin. The lies we have told, the pride of our hearts, and the unkind things we have said and done have so stained our hearts with sin that we are like that worthless bird. But God in His tender love did not think of us as worthless. He loved us so much that He sent His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, into this world to die for our sins. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” 1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9).
There was nothing good in us, but the Lord Jesus willingly laid down His life in order to save us from our sins. “Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6).
God has even taken the care to tell us in His Word, the Bible, that He also notices the birds. And if He cares for each little bird, His loving care for His own children is much greater. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-3129Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29‑31).
It did not cost Mrs. Lyons much to show kindness to that grackle. But the Lord Jesus paid a terribly high price for our salvation, even when we did not deserve it. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18).
Do you know this love of God that rescues sinners sick with sin and makes them His own children? You are worth a lot to Him. Accept Christ as your Saviour today, and you will know God as your loving Father.
ML-10/15/1989