Dad liked exotic birds and had quite a few of them. Peacocks, doves, pigeons, pheasants and some others whose names I don't know. They were beautiful! I remember looking at them a few times and glorifying God for His creation. The colors on one peacock named Mike were particularly stunning.
Yet birds can go berserk at times. The curse of man's sin has affected all of the earth. Animals get sick and die. Plants get diseased and die. Thorns and thistles take over our gardens.
Recently, Jim Evans, a good man in our church who raises pigeons and doves, told me that he had to put five of his pigeons down. They had been attacking each other and drew blood. Pigeons! And once they draw blood they can actually corrupt their gene pool.
I asked Jim if doves ever attacked each other, he said, "Never."
Then I remembered something. Jesus told us to be "harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). Jesus chose the most docile bird known to man as an example of what a Christian should be - harmless!
"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;" (Philippians 2:15).
It is said of Jesus, "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;" (Hebrews 7:26).
Have you been going berserk lately? Drawing blood at home, work or in your church? Why not knock it off and be a Christian?
As believers in Christ we have no right to harm other people in any way. Let us be harmless in our words and actions.
