Not Forgotten

      By Fern Horst

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12:-7)

A couple weekends ago all my nephews were with my parents and me at our family cabin. The boys enjoyed exploring the woods and came up with all kinds of discoveries and treasures. One of them was a baby starling. The owner of a neighboring cabin had evidently found the nest of baby starlings near his cabin and tossed it out into the woods, probably thinking they were not worth allowing to live.

When my nine-year-old nephew found it, all the baby birds were dead except one. He brought it to me in the nest and wondered what he could feed it. As I looked at the little bird lying limply on its side, I wondered that it would live long. I cautiously warned him that it didn't look strong enough to eat anything. So, off he and his cousins went. Later in the afternoon they showed it to me again. They had fed it a worm, they told me, and I was amazed at how much better it looked. Sadly, it did die later on, but not for lack of effort and caring on the part of a few young boys.

As I read these verses in Luke about God caring about the sparrows, I thought about my nephews and the baby starling and how much they exemplified God's caring for us. Tossed into the woods by someone who thought it was not worth anything, my nephews saw its worth as one of God's creatures and did all they could to give it a chance to live. Matthew 10:29 tells us that two sparrows were sold for one farthing. In Luke we find out that for two farthings one could get five sparrows. Evidently sparrows weren't worth much as individual birds if one was thrown in for free when you paid two farthings instead of one.

The Bible tells us that not one of these sparrows is forgotten by God and that He values each individual sparrow, unlike those selling and buying them. What's more, He values each one of us as individuals much more than those individual sparrows. God doesn't see us as a group of people here on earth, but as individuals, each with value and purpose. He knows all about each one of us. In fact, He created us specifically with the unique package of abilities and appearance and place on this earth - a package that gives us what we need to fulfill the specific purpose He made us for!

As I read through the Gospel of Luke I am struck over and over again with the emphasis on doing the work God has given us to do, of not being found idle by our Master when He comes again, and of living to build up treasure in heaven rather than here on earth. But there is also the message of God's deep abiding love for us, which is the foundation of living for Him. It gives us great confidence and security in our Master. When we know we are loved and cared for by Him, we can put all that we are and have into the work of His Kingdom.

Don't let anyone else determine your worth based on their own shallow measuring stick. And don't allow yourself to devalue the person God created you to be. If Satan can't convince us to not accept Christ as our Saviour, it seems he'll then do his best to render us ineffective in God's Kingdom. His lie that we are not worth much to God or to anyone else is his best tool for causing us to give up on fulfilling God's purpose for us. Let's not allow that lie to take hold in our lives. Rather, let's remind ourselves over and over again that God deeply loves each one of us as individuals, and that He has a unique purpose for each of us to fulfill.

© 2006 Fern Horst

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