Dead Doves

C.S. Lewis said, “In our own case, we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s, we do not accept them easily enough.” My extension to this thought replaces the word “excuses” with “point of view.” We are far too easily pleased with our perspective. We are often in the nosebleed section. 

I write this in response to a comment I heard this past weekend. “I do not like this book by “John Doe” because he is reformed.” I am alarmed by a pattern that I see. If I am not careful, I will be a victim of this pattern. We tend to discredit others based on a label or a failure, yet we are unwilling to disqualify ourselves. We are unaware of how our ignorance clouds our ability to understand truth. 

I heard once that the crop of a bird is the strongest muscle in a bird’s body. The crop is near the gullet and throat. It is responsible for processing and storing food for later consumption. In some birds, like doves, the crop also produces “crop milk” from cells lining the crop. Crop milk feeds the young who cannot consume solid food. The birds often fill their crop with small pebbles and sand to help grind up the food stored inside.

I have watched men of faith “fall.” I have also seen others drift in ways that have me question whether we believe in the same God. All these men would have been considered Godly men at one time. Ironically, we act like these men were perfect up until the point of their negative public exposure. The truth is that they were sinners when you liked what they said. 

How quickly we discount the writing or teaching of someone based on a set of particular beliefs or a sin. Please understand me. I am not addressing these men or the faults they may or may not have. I aim to show how we handle information and ideas received, no matter the man or his faults. Do we have the capacity to hold two competing ideas at the same time? Can we separate the words from the man? Do we believe the truth because it is true, or do we believe it because it comes from the mouth of someone we know to be truthful? 

We have become a society of weak cropped Christians. Neglect and fear have contributed to many underdeveloped crops. We refuse to fill our crop with pebbles because it hurts and makes us uncomfortable. We are comfortable consuming the same milk we have had for years. We choke when we come across solid food and cannot produce milk for our young. Our crops are relatively hidden, so we easily pretend we are nourished and strong. 

 So afraid of being choked, we only put the familiar in our crops. In doing so, we fail to realize we will only grow through the discomfort of wrestling with the things that are painful, scary, or different. The things we put in our crops are not people but their words. When we put people in our crops, they are crushed and spit out, never to be listened to again. In our lives, our crop stores and discern the truth and can separate true from false to produce good nourishment. 

We also need to fill our crops with pebbles and sand. Fill it with scripture so that when the things that threaten to choke us enter, they are tested against the word of God. Those things found wanting are spat out confidently, and the rest digested. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” There exists no better foundation for examining what is true. 

Strengthen the crop. Fill it with scripture. Take ideas in and keep people out. Understand that pain and discomfort are part of the process, and the crop will begin to produce milk over time. Use the milk to encourage and nourish those around you.

Weak crops make dead doves.