Cowbirds? What's that you say, Grandma?

We use to laugh at some of Grandma's outlandish analogies ...such as the way she referred to cowbirds, making mention that sometimes people act that way. 

Cowbirds lay more eggs than any other wild bird ...laying one egg at a time, but in another bird's nest. 

(Usually the cowbird will remove one egg before replacing it with her own, as not to be conspicuous by the change in number of eggs in the nest.)

Let me make this clear ...Grandma passed away many years ago.  (So no correlation with this Occupy nest example ...though Grandma would've perhaps said the cowbirds were the ones who began the 'Occupy' movement.)

With that said, I guess it's not that funny ...as it used to be.  I would never refer to Grandma as an old bird ...she offered much to our lives, yet I do remember her acting similar (in some isolated ways) to having her wing broken, drawing attention to herself in leading others away (astray) ...to protect her nest(egg).

But though we don't often walk the walk ...Grandma helped encourage us along the path.  It's not how we walk that determines whether we eventually get there. It's that we know who we are walking towards ...and that's what determines the direction of our life. 

I always found it hard to imagine how we could reach the point where Jesus would say, "Many will say to me in that day; Lord, Lord ....and I will profess unto them, I never knew you ...."  

God draws all of us, but it takes a response ...so it seems that knowing is an exchange of knowing, that we know Him too ...but not just by Name.  It's like a couple weeks ago my dad heard that someone from his hometown had passed away, and he heard that the man had worked where I last worked before I retired.  Dad asked me if I knew him.  I said I heard of him, I knew of  him ...but I never really knew him.  I didn't really know anything about him ...I didn't know his character.  He was a psychologist and was probably a good guy, but I can't say that I agreed with any of his beliefs, because I didn't know anything about that aspect of his life ...we never talked.  

I believe when Jesus said that there would come a time when there would be those He'd say He never knew ...the best I can figure, it must be those void of knowing Him.  We are to accept Jesus, but also what He expects out of us.   Some of us don't have a very high perception of what that is ...but I'd say it definitely includes what He says.  That certainly doesn't mean we have to be perfect ...but we should always represent Him as being perfect, and always take exactly what He says with high value, which is how we glorify Him.

I believe that ...in God's righteousness, because He loves us, it is of utmost importance that we glorify Him ...in representing Him accurately.  If we don't accept what He says ...that is not accepting Him.   If we don't accept what He stands for ...that is not accepting Him.  If we don't accept Jesus, we don't accept the Son of our Heavenly Father...

...and if we accept the Son, we must accept the Father.  He doesn't just have a Name, which we can utter when we want to attach our agenda to it.  His Name does not represent what our mind always wants to perceive or conceive.

What many don't want to look at is Judgment Day.  That is not a happy day for me to imagine either.  I shutter at the thought that anyone that I have been privileged to befriend would be in the "never knew" group.  I would hope I glorify God, represent Him the best I can, and make a desirable testimony, so others will want to follow Him.   But I also hope I don't pretend like something is okay, if God makes it clear it is not okay.

God's grace covers so much of what we mistakenly do ...but I don't believe I'm just here on earth so that God can bring me to His saving graces ...that is crucial, and it does come first, but I believe I am a part of guiding future generations ....children who need to know Him, and they may find it difficult knowing Him if we confuse them with pretending that most everything is okay, when that is not at all what He says.

I don't want to imagine a day when people are so diluted that they no longer really know who Jesus is ...because though none of us walk the perfect walk, we are not to distort what Jesus said, who He is, and claim something that is not Jesus at all. 

If you only love yourself and your small knit group, I don't really know what to say to you.   If you truly care about others, and I gather to say, most of you do ...grasp the truth of the Bible for yourselves, and share the real truth with others.  That's the most and the best we can do for anyone.