ODJ: love and knowledge

January 7, 2015 

READ: Matthew 10:26-31 

The very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows (vv.30-31).

An old legend about the Titanic goes like this: a woman boarding the ship nervously asked a deckhand if the Titanic was truly unsinkable, to which he replied, “God Himself could not sink this ship.”

A tragic outcome would later prove how wrong that statement was. But the man would not have been alone in his blunder, as some of the most brilliant minds of history have got things wrong. For instance, Winston Churchill once proclaimed that war with Japan was impossible (It happened!).

Given that people can be so wrong in their assessments, it’s strange that we can sometimes live in such fear of them—as if others are not as fallible as we are. But Matthew 10 reminds us of the One who holds true authority and knowledge: God alone. He has authority not just over the physical body, but also over our very souls (v.28). His wisdom is comprehensive, and He knows even the number of hairs on our head (v.30). Like Job, we often spend too much time listening to the advice of our imperfect friends rather than the opinions of our almighty God.

In the same passage in Matthew, Jesus went on to say that not only are we known by God, but we’re valuable to Him (v.31). This reveals, as repeated elsewhere in Scripture, that the fear of the Lord isn’t in opposition to His love. Proverbs 9:10 reminds us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and in Psalm 118:4 we read, “Let all who fear the LORD repeat: ‘His faithful love endures forever.’ ”

So we should draw near to God, not just because He knows more than anyone else, but also because He loves us so much more! —Peter Chin

365-day plan› Genesis 9:1-17