#21 You are worth more: Father Parables (4)

[Mt 6:24] “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one ad despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
[25]“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? [26] Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? [27] Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” [28] “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor nor spin. [29] Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. [30] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? [31] So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] and your heavenly Father knows you need them. [33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [34]Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”[1]

For the last few weeks in this blog, we have seen that Jesus has been telling us that His Father and our Father is more than we can dream or imagine. Now, Jesus tells us that in our Father’s eyes, we are more than sparrows, lilies, sheep and oxen.

1. We must decide whether to serve God or Mammon (the world/flesh/Devil). We can live either by the flesh (our own power) or the spirit (God’s personal power). We don’t have a choice as human beings to be lords of the world – we can only decide which lord to follow.

2. Here we see the Father in relationship to nature. He is creator, the God of nature – He is not nature. And there is no “Mother Nature” in Christian parlance. This is “our Father’s world” and we are stewards of His creation, not servants of nature. Jesus shows us a Father who is in charge of every detail of creation, not just the Creator, but the Sustainer, the One who keeps the heavens in their order. He is the One who feeds the birds, grows the grass, and dresses the flowers. And we see that God attends to the minutest detail, even numbering the hairs on our head (not the number – how many – but each one is numbered!) Jesus uses monetary value (our value system) to show the Father’s care for us; if two sparrows are sold for a penny, how much more are we worth?

3. In the past few weeks, we have learned to ask, seek, knock, wait and now not worry. If there is anything that can impede our ability to hear God, it is worry. It is like having the sound of static in our head while we’re trying to listen to that small, still voice. Is there anything more difficult than worrying about not worrying? Worry debilitates us, causes us to waiver in our prayers. We must worry about who we follow, not the details.

4. And Jesus now tells us that we are worth more than sparrows, grass & things. So, regardless of how bad our own self-image is, or our image of a father, Jesus is telling us that his Father loves us even more than we can hope for, and that we are worth more to Him that we could ever imagine.



[1] (Matthew 6:24-34)