Rev. David Horton, Lead Pastor at Gethsemane

Matthew 10:29-31

29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. 30And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

 

Reflection:

Did you know…?

         On average, the human head has 100,000 hairs.

         The number of hairs varies by hair color, with blondes having the most hair, redheads having the least hair, and brunettes in between. That means blondes don’t just have more fun, they have more hair.

         We lose between 50 and 100 hairs each day and, until we all eventually suffer from hair loss (some of us sooner than others), we replenish those hairs over time. That means we grow an entirely new head of hair about every 3.5 years.

         So what does this mean for you, dear reader? Remember these three simple things:

 

  1. God loves you all the way down to your hair follicles. Jesus says, “even the hairs on your head are counted.” He says this in the context of a block of teaching where he’s warning the disciples about the inevitable persecutions they will face because of their allegiance to Jesus. The disciples shouldn’t expect to be treated any better than their teacher, and look at what happened to him. But they shouldn’t worry about their fate, not because they’ll have an easy time of it or because they’ll receive a reward in heaven, but because God loves them down to the tiniest detail and such love should inspire trust. It’s not that we should put our trust in God because, if we do, suffering won’t happen to us. It’s that God loves us as much as a person could possibly love us and therefore, we put our trust in God.

 

  1. God pays attention to the details of our lives. If God notices every single strand of my hair, then yes, God notices when I raise my voice at my kid. Or when I put down my phone and play with her. Or when I’m extra generous with my tip at the restaurant. Or when I ruminate on my grievances and wish bad things would happen to “that person” (we all have “that person”). If Jesus is going to be Lord of our lives, he’ll settle for nothing less than Lord of every human hair, every thought you think, every little action that either builds people up or tears them down. Pay attention to the details.

 

  1. God sees the person you’re becoming. God numbers the hairs you have now and the hairs that are growing. God sees the person you are today and the person you’ll be 3.5 years from now. God loves that version of you 3.5 years from now as much as God loves this version of you today. There’s nothing you could do that could make God love you any more or any less. So now, ponder what kind of person will wear your hair in 3.5 years. Who do you want that person to be? Who are you becoming? The new creation starts today, one strand at a time.

 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you number the hairs on my head. You see every detail that makes me, me, and you love me in spite of it all. Show me the way to mind the details of my life, so the person who has my hair tomorrow looks more like you. Amen.