Birds of the same feather don't have to flock together

Birds of the same feather don't have to flock together.

About a year ago I ran into the ever-so-common statement "Birds of the same feather flock together". However for the first time I actually put some thought into it. I decide to question and analyse this statement instead of doing what we often do "accept it because everyone else does." After reading that statement I started to pose questions to the one who had posed it, my argument was so well delivered that he and others backing him conceded. Don't get me wrong, I do somewhat agree that birds of the same feather do flock together. However, are they really effective when they flock together? Are they?

Take this example for instance. An ever bright light that is Christ was sent to a dark world. And that was very effective! Christ himself said in Mark 2:7, Matt 9:12, Luke 5:31 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick." To be very effective Christ had to be in a place where no one was like him. A light is brightest when it is surrounded by darkness! Someone else said to me "Stars are brightest when it is darkest!" Unfortunately I feel that as believers in Christ we have forgotten this. We seem to be more interested in creating our little "holy" cliques. Don't get me wrong I understand the significance of surrounding oneself with like minded people. The Great Commission will however never be fulfilled if we refuse to move out of our comfort zones. Matthew 28: 19-20 says "¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Let's explore this verse. He says GO, which means leave. Get out of your comfort zone and reach out to others. He says "make disciples of ALL NATIONS", which means to reach out to all people. At this point I have to mention that it is very sad to note that the ones who need to hear this gospel the most are the ones that we neglect. We stick around in our little "holier than thou" cliques pointing out how the world is falling apart, what are you doing to make amends to it? What are you doing to reach those people? If we spent less time discussing the problems that we have identified and actually used that time to try and fix those problem we'd be a better world! How many more people would come to Christ if we spent more time loving them and less time pointing out their fault?

The most effective birds are the ones that break away from the flock

In our day and age would Jesus spend his time on Twitter and Facebook posting about how John the Baptist is failing or has fallen? Of course not, yet that is what we spend our time doing. Jesus spent his time furthering the Kingdom, he did not go around chasing after or criticising the Pharisees. If you read through the scripture, they are the ones who always came to him! Focus more on your own mission and less on how the next person may be failing on theirs! Jesus would have ordinarily been expected to flock with his own, the Jews. Yet what made him most effective is that he went direct to the ones that needed him most! At times to be effective you have to move from your own people. Go where God says for you to go. Abraham's greatness begins when he decides to leave his own people and follow God. To leave the birds of his feather and have no one to flock with, but God. Saul's greatness as chronicled in the book of Acts begins when he decides to follow the Lord that he had been persecuting, and go against his own people. Against all who had supported him all along! I could go on and on with examples Nichodemus, Rahab, Elisha, the disciples (their own feathers were fishermen, but they left to become fishers of men!).

Being an effective flock

As a flock we ought to remember that we are in the time of the end. The church has no time to look at one another and compare faults. There is a world out there that needs to be reached. The church needs to realise that no matter what our denominational differences are we are a part of one body, the body of Christ. We need to remember that our mission is not to see who fills a bigger room and gathers and bigger congregation. Our mission is to reach out to those who do not know Christ! We ought to remember that those whom we look down upon because of the "filth" on their feathers are no different from where we were before we were cleansed by his blood. We ought to remember that it is not by our own wisdom or skills by which we are in Christ, it is by his grace and mercy! If we remember that we will be more tolerant of others and love others more. Should we choose to flock together, let us use the power of our number to cast our net wider and reach more souls.

Moreover we need to remember that the religious regarded Christ as a filthy and sinful man, yet he was the truth! Just because you can see someone else's wrong does not make you right!

To summarise:

Be your own man. Follow Christ and not man. Don't be afraid to fly alone, after all eagles fly solo.

I challenge you today, commit to be different. Commit to be more accomodating. Commit to love and not criticise. Commit to be an extension of Christ to all around you. And remember "BIRDS OF THE SAME FEATHER DO NOT HAVE TO FLOCK TOGETHER!"