Two Stories

Scripture:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

—Matthew 10:29-31

Observation:


Sparrows according to this passage are not worthless, but slightly more than worthless. I remember when I was a child going to the corner store and buying candy. The cheapest candy one could buy was five cents. You could not even buy a momentary sugar rush for a penny, even though according to my step-dad you could buy a penny candy when he was a child, but lets just be real about that they also walked forty miles uphill both ways to school and back while barefoot in the snow. That just shows how almost worthless a sparrow was. And as little value a sparrow conducted God takes care of them making sure that not one of them will fall from flight. So Jesus uses this bit of information to calm the nerves of his disciples, “don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” The cynical part of me wants to be like “wow, thank you Jesus, we are worth many slightly above worthless sparrows.” But the reality of that statement is that God is in control and he is watching after us, and if he cares about almost worthless sparrows with great intensity, imagine how much more he cares for you. That reality is later shown to cost the life of God’s son on the cross. How much does God care about you? He cares enough to die on your behalf.


Application:


The biggest lie I have believed in my life, that the enemy has told me, is that I am worthless. I have no value has been a lie whispered in my ear in the dead of night over and over again, “Carl, you are nothing, never were, never will be.” But this passage tells me different. The reality of the cross screams, “No, you are infinitely valuable!” But, somehow I cannot buy into that reality, I cannot let that be my defining truth, because that would mean I do not have to prove my worth, a reality I have bought into my entire life. The thing about time is you cannot ask for a refund. So, the time I have spent bought into this lie is lost to me.

I remember about ten years ago in British Columbia, where I am from, there was a big scandal that happened because a bunch of high-condos that were ruined because of leakage during rain. What happened was a development company took plans for condos in arid Arizona and just copy and pasted those same condos in British Columbia. The problem is that British Columbia is not arid, it is actually very wet; Vancouver is the rainiest city on earth. So when the rains fell the condos eventually leaked, which led to mold and rot, and eventually led to condos being uninhabitable. Some people spent many times the value of their condo to repair the damage, while others just walked away deeming it more profitable to just walk away and start again investing in a new place.

Too often we buy into the story of valuelessness. We spend allsorts of energy and effort trying to show our value. When the reality is we have bought into lie that will cost us more and more; sometimes we just need to walk away and invest in something better because it is more profitable. The enemy has been sowing lies getting us to buy into a different story for far too long.  We need to walk away from the story of valuelessness and buy into the story of infinitely valuable, because that is the story we were always meant to live.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for showing us that we are infinitely valuable to you. Help me to stop buying into a faulty and subpar story and only buy into your story of infinite value. Thank you, I pray in the name of Jesus Amen…