Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (Psalms 1:1)
I have a friend who raises and shows American singer canaries as a hobby. He has over 300 birds at any time, and he sells those that do not come up to his standards as pets. American singer canaries have a wonderful song, long and melodious and sweet.
His birds have won several awards for their excellent, delicately beautiful songs. He has what is called a Dragon Award, which means he’s won so many championships with his birds that they gave him a special trophy just for that. His birds are exquisite. He now judges for shows.
He told me the story of a novice bird breeder and his attempt to improve his bird’s lives. He wanted them to be happy and healthy. My breeder friend did not want me to make the same error with my birds. (I have a small aviary, just 22 singing canaries.)
One spring, the new breeder decided that his canaries would be healthier if they got some fresh air, so he built an outdoor aviary and he put his birds out in it to fly freely. He was careful to be certain nothing could get into the aviary to harm them; he gave them food and water and strong perches of various sizes. He loved to go out and listen to them in the morning.
Then he got busy and didn’t pay them as much attention, although he noticed they seemed not to be singing as much.
The aviary was near trees, which were host to a flock of sparrows and robins, nuthatches and chickadees. All summer those canaries listened to the outdoor wild birds.
To his dismay, when he brought them back into the house in the fall, they couldn’t sing anymore! They could only twitter and chirp monotonously, like sparrows. They’d had untrained companions all summer and had forgotten how to sing. It took hours of patiently playing recordings of master canaries singing for them to revert back to their own songs.
Isn’t that just like some Christians who get into bad company? They once had a lovely Christian witness, but because of the company they have been keeping, they forgot the language of heaven and must be retrained to speak it.
Don’t lose your hold on Christ. Avoid bad company and don’t go where you know you shouldn’t.
Remember, if you can’t take Jesus along with you, if you know the conversation is not one He’s going to enjoy, it’s not worth having.
Allow nothing to come between you and your Lord.
Evil influence is like a nicotine patch, you cannot help but absorb what sticks to you. – E.A. Bucchianeri