"What Do You Think?"
The following is a "selected" article appearing in a church bulletin that I receive and some of my comments on the same: "In a clearing in the woods one day I saw a black-winged bird soaring overhead. Suddenly it descended to the ground where lay the carcass of a dog. That bird was a buzzard. From afar it had seen its dinner. Seeking carrion, it had found it. Some people are like that. They are on the watch to find something unbecoming in the lives of others. When they find it, they descend to feed upon it, and then contaminate others by spreading it.
"Returning from the woods, I entered the garden of my friend, where the perfume of countless flowers scented the air. How beautiful a garden is. Its loveliness attracts the bee. I watched as a little worker tarried first at this blossom, then at that one, taking what it wanted. Seeking honey, it came to the source. Looking for sweetness, it was satisfied. And some people are like that. Looking for companionship and virtue in friends, they look over the imperfections and faults, and find kindness and good deeds.
"The buzzard attitude may be cured by examining self. "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ... You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
"In the very person where the "buzzard" eye finds something to feed its own rotten mind, the "bee" eye can find something that is wholesome and good."
Now, I see no likeness between the "buzzard, the bee and men" unless some men see only the bad and some men see only the good. If seeing the bad in one makes him a "buzzard" the writer of the above article, has surely found "something dead" because he has seen only the bad in the critic he criticizes. The old buzzard is a rather unsightly bird (especially at, close range) but he surely serves a useful purpose and in Texas he is so highly regarded that the fine for killing one is 25.00. The Holy Spirit may not have been looking for something "dead" but he found it in the church at Sardis (Rev. 3:1) and he has "contaminated others" (every succeeding generation) by "spreading it" on the pages of inspiration. There are some things that even the "buzzard" cannot stomach and I have seen them so nauseated they would vomit. There were things about the church in Laodicea that made God sick enough to vomit too. (Rev. 3:16). Another thing, the "buzzard" is what he is because God made him that way, thus showing he has a work to do. If the live chickens had to be pinned up with all the dead ones they'd all soon die with the limber-neck. There is a certain amount of scavenger work that must be done and the "bee" could never do the job.
I like the "bee" too, because I like his product, but the "human bee" that willfully closes his eyes to the faults of others cannot do his duty (Gal. 6:1) and please God. I do not believe it would be wise to try and "crossbreed" the buzzard and the bee in an effort to completely destroy the former. I do not see how we can get along without either — what do you think? The "bee" doesn't feed on that which is rotten nor does the "buzzard" feed on that which is sweet, but sometime the same man that is "sweet" is at other times or in other ways "rotten." May the Lord help us to see the sweet and commend it but may he also help us to see the rotten and purge the church of it. Truth is, this article does not advocate that we become "bees," but ostriches. Too many, like the ostrich, have buried their heads in the sand and are completely oblivious to the softness, worldliness and digression that is overtaking us.