Luke 12:4-7

Luke 12:4-7

I say to you, my friends, do not have fear from the ones who can kill the body and after this who do not have anything greater that they can do.  But I will warn you of what you should be afraid.  Be afraid of the one who has authority after death to throw you into Hell.  Yes, I say to you, fear this one.  Are not five sparrows being sold for two insignificant coins?  And not one out of them is being forgotten in the presence of God.  But rather even all the hairs of your head are having been numbered.  Do not fear.  You are worth more than many sparrows.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Let’s deal with the happy message first. We have value.  God values us.  That message should honestly mean more than any other message we can hear.  This message should trump every other message.  This message should be the context that we read everything else in God’s Word.  Regardless of how many hard messages we may hear, the only reason that we are hearing them in the first place is because we have value with God.

Why does God value you?  How can this message help to frame your life?

Second Thought:

There are other messages that we can hear in this passage.  We should fear God.  Fear doesn’t necessarily mean that we dread God.  What Jesus is telling us is that God has a large amount of power.  He has the ability to condemn if it is called for.  We shouldn’t forget this message.  While we have value to God, there are certain things within that message to which we need to adhere.  God’s love is freely given, but there is a proper response.  Truthfully, this makes sense.  Every parent gives their love freely to a child.  But there are proper responses that parents expect to get from their children.  Jesus is telling us to not neglect this side of the relationship.  We have incredible value to God.  We should therefore give back to Him what He expects from us.

Do you fear God?  Do you revere God?  How do you respond to God’s love in ways that He desires of you?

Third Thought:

As we backtrack through this passage, we get to Jesus’ opening comment.  How often do we fear the wrong people?  We fear the bullies in life that we think can make our immediate life miserable.  We fear the government and various other agencies that can make our life miserable should we give them cause.  We fear things we cannot control like the weather and a downturn in the stock market.  But none of those things can affect us into eternity!  We worry so much about the short time we are here on this planet when we should be focused on our eternal life.

What do you spend time worrying about now?  How can that worry help you lose focus?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 12:8-12