More Than Sparrows

Greenfinches, goldfinches, blue tits, and sparrows are all flocking around the bird feeders, clearly visible from our kitchen window. Siskins, thrushes, dunnocks, and blackbirds start around six in the morning, fluttering, squawking, and tweeting. They’re at it all day. Sometimes we see the young ones quivering on the top bar. Sometimes the big black rooks invade and there’s a desperate dash for cover.

Often a robin is waiting for me at the shed door as I fill up the feeders, and there’s the splashing and fluttering in the bird bath as they go about their daily ablutions. Occasionally there’s a sparrow hawk, diving down from nowhere, scattering all in panic. But they’re soon back.

They’ve got to feed, in spite of the deadly invaders. They don’t know Jesus, but Jesus knows them all. He has them counted. He said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care” (Matthew 5:29).

Are we not worth so much more than sparrows?

God loves us. His watchful eye sees our every move, all our fluttering and squawking, and all our bickering and biting. He looks on with compassion, sometimes sadness, sometimes sorrow, but always with love.

Are we so consumed in our daily lives with all its problems and dangers that we fail to recognise Him, unaware that He is constantly with us, seeking to guide our every move? Yet often we’re so busy with our own affairs that we miss out on the joy and fulfilment of His perfect way, lost in a fog of indifference.

We’re worth infinitely more than sparrows. We’re special, privileged, and selected. We’re ‘Created in Christ Jesus to do good works’ (Ephesians 2:10). They are for the benefit of our brothers and sisters, as well as for those who know no better. But we know. We’ve read the Book. We’ve trodden the path. We’ve seen the goal.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9). Yet we blunder along on our own way, making plans and decisions that often take us off the path which is so clearly marked. Do we miss out on so much blessing in our blinkered state, which comes short of God’s best?

“I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The way of sin has been overcome. The painful walk to the cross has been taken. The death that overcame death has been died. The gateway to a perfect life has been thrown open wide, ready for us to walk through.

Yes. There are rocks along the way and pitfalls in the path. But there’s also the outstretched hand. “Come to me. I will lead you. Trust me. Repent and be saved, and know that I am your God, and together we can conquer the world.”