Birds and Berries
Every year we dispute with the birds over who gets the ripe blueberries. We desire the fruit for eating yummy things like jellies, pies, or cobblers. However, our feathered friends are looking for a quick and easy source of food. To discourage their harvest, we drape a netting over the bush. Yet, the most adventurous ones discover a way beneath the covering.
Recently I looked out my window and noticed a young robin was caught in the net and dangling by its claw. I rushed to rescue it, gently reaching beneath the mesh to untangle it. As I cupped it in my hands, it pecked at me in alarm. I sought to unwind it from its snare, but ended up needing to cut it free. I gently carried it out from under the net and set it on the ground away from the bush. The dazed fledgling sat for a bit as it regained its strength and senses. Soon it began hopping about and as I watched, that young bird was back under the netting, yielding to the siren call of the sweet berries.
Setting the bird free is like what our loving Creator has done for us. Through Jesus Christ, God’s mercy reaches into our lives and gently cuts us free from the sins that shackle our souls—those snares that catch us and keep us dangling and unable to free ourselves. Through Jesus’ death, he paid the price to set us free. He proclaimed this through the prophet Isaiah, “I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free” (Isaiah 44:22).
Like the liberated robin, the One who loves us so much has released us from what binds our lives. The One True God has delivered us and set us in a new place. Unfortunately, like the bird, we too are bombarded by the alluring call of those juicy berries. We too return to the same things that ensnare us. We ignore what God said in Romans 6:12, “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.” Why do we keep heading back to the things that bind us? Perhaps it is the easy enticing fruit which tempts us. Like the bird, we rush to eat it and never consider the net until we are firmly caught in it.
To be fair, birds have an excuse. They have tiny brains that have preprogrammed responses. Unlike them, our Creator has given us the ability to make our own decisions. We can freely decide where we go and what we do. We can choose to walk free or allow ourselves to be ensnared. The fledgling was set free from the net so it could fly and sing as it was created to do. In the same way, Galatians 5:1 tells us, “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” It is in Christ that we are freed. Our gracious Creator has also granted us the ability to stay that way.
Jesus, through your amazing grace, you have set me free from the sin which bound my soul. Thank you for gently untangling me from the decisions that have caught me fast and left me dangling. Thank you for putting me on safe ground so that I can walk free and sing your praises. Please help me make choices that keep me walking towards and not away from you. Amen