Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
We’re a mixed bag we are, wrens and mankind alike. Created in perfection but fallen in iniquity, yet somehow we still show evidence of both natures violently at war within us. Before we focus on our own inconsistencies, just pause for a moment to consider an illustration from the life of the House Wren. This songster is a favorite, for its delightful song brightens many a backyard. And it has many other admirable characteristics. For example, its parental urges are so great that when one has not found a mate and raised a brood of its own, it will sometimes feed the young of another species, and at times even adults of a different kind – a Mother Teresa if there ever was one. But a darker side is revealed, as both the male and female will puncture the eggs of other House Wrens, and even those of other species which happen to be nesting nearby.
James uses our speech to illustrate our own dual nature. “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10 NIV) And of course we all know it doesn’t stop there. We can be the kindest, most thoughtful person one moment, and in a seeming blink-of-an-eye turn vengeful and self-centered.
In a passage we all can relate to, Paul expresses his frustration with his own inconsistency: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:21-24 NIV) But it doesn’t end there, thank God, for Paul adds one more verse that gives us hope. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”