I talked with a woman yesterday who told me that when she was born that her father, having no money, gave the doctor a ham for his services. While it may seem that he had gotten a bargain or cheaped out, the fact is that a ham to a poor farmer during the Great Depression was extremely valuable. It was perhaps the mostt valuable thing he had to offer at the time, cerrtainly something that would make a true impact on his family.
In Luke 12:7b, when Jesus says, "you are worth many sparrows," it may not seem like a lot of value is placed on us. Really? I'm worth a bunch of birds? Wow! Yes really. You are worth a bunch of birds that God created out of love and "not one of them is forgotten by God" (v. 6). God cares deeply for all his creation, but nothing compares with man. Do you recall the Creation Narrative in Genesis? Godd speaks the universe and every living thing into existence, except man. With man, God scoops up clay, forms it with his hands and breathes his breath of life into it. Mankind alone was fashioned in God's image.
That special relationship and value is seen in the statment fournd in verse 7a, "Even the very hairs on our head are numbered." The image is that of a new mother counting fingers and toes of her newborn, checking closely to make sure everything is OK with her baby. But God doesn't just count them, he numbers them. When a hair falls our of your head, he knows which one - "There goes hair number 3,412. That beautiful scalp I gave you is so much easier to see now."
Do you get the picture of how much God cares for you, how intimately concerned he is with your welfare, how much of himself he invest into your life? You, like a newborn infant in in the arms of its mother, are loved deeply and affectionately to a degree that is impossible to quantify. Jesus really really loves you, this I know. Jus' Sayn.
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