Yesterday, my son, a prolific bird-catcher if there ever was one, brought a sparrow into my home office. Just as he entered, it escaped his grasp and began to fly around erratically, full of fear. With intense focus, my bird-catcher was able to gently corral it, soothe it and release it back outside safely. The sparrow had nothing to fear from him, but it didn’t know that.
Though it was widely considered insignificant in His day, Jesus uses the mere sparrow to illustrate a point that links fear and our value. In Matthew 10:28-31, He teaches, “Don’t be in fear of those who can kill only the body but not your soul. Fear only God, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. You can buy two sparrows for only a copper coin, yet not even one sparrow falls from its nest without the knowledge of your Father. Aren’t you worth much more to God than many sparrows? So don’t worry. For your Father cares deeply about even the smallest detail of your life.” (TPT).
Every sparrow is under constant sovereign supervision, yet we tend to doubt our value in God’s eyes. We worry that we’re unimportant, insignificant, not worth His time. That lie creates fear that drives us to find our value in other people and things. Do we fear others and what they think of us or what they could do to or for us more than we believe we have our Father’s love and attention? Do we doubt our worth in the very eyes of our Creator – the One who knit us together in the womb – so much so that we ourselves place more value on what we fear? As you ponder the foundation of your fears, and where you find value, remind yourself of the sparrow. What seems insignificant to man is lovingly valued by our Heavenly Father.
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