Sing Sweet Mockingbird

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Recently, my wife took a friend for a get-acquainted visit to Bok Tower Gardens. The visit included a tour, and the tour included an interesting bit of trivia. The creator of the gardens, Edward T. Bok, was fond of the singing of the Nightingale. Consequently, he secured a flock and enjoyed their music. Sadly, though, the birds did not survive in the Florida climate. Nevertheless, their song remained in the imitative skills of native Mockingbirds until the memory was forgotten and other bird calls replaced it.

We live in a Mockingbird culture. The world is inhospitable to believers in Christ, and every generation sees a diminishing of their felt presence. That trend will be altered only if God's Spirit in grace alone revitalizes repentance through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed in the Scriptures alone. Such revitalization has an impact in terms of wholesome character and good works based on Truth.

As the influence of Christianity fades people develop different explanations for the lingering good it leaves behind. In our day man promotes the myth of the "enlightened” evolution of the race. The Mockingbirds who deny the existence of God are quick to sing the Nightingale's song and claim it as their own. Indeed, they resent the thought that it may be only a copy. 

Even in Christian circles, Scripture is set aside, the Spirit is not sought, and the character of faith is reduced to the most “viral” melodies of seminars and motivational speakers. They see no problem trying to harmonize with the conflicting pitches all around them. They do not say the Nightingales are unnecessary; they simply celebrate Mockingbirds as fellow Nightingales - part of an ill-conceived rainbow of sound where each, as an honorary Nightingale, belts out whatever sounds right to his own musical orientation. 

Too late and without a clue, the true song of the Nightingale and the True Spirit of the Christian faith are pushed aside by a growing cacophony of moral discord and myopic injustice. Evil is called "good." Good is called "evil;" And crows teach the Mockingbirds their lyrics. 

The righteous man perishes,

And no one lays it to heart;

Devout men are taken away,

While no one understands.

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