Eph 1:11-14 / Lk 12:1-7
The lives of most of us are inhabited and inhibited by a variety of fears: fear of abandonment, fear of embarrassment, fear of rejection, fear of pain, fears of losses and humiliations of all sorts. All too often we let those fears paralyze us and prevent us from growing into our best selves. And sometimes they can even lead us to give in to what we know is wrong. “I’ll lose my job,” we say, “my friends, my position in the community, my life, unless I bend and do what my conscience tells me I shouldn’t.”
Most of the time, fear leads to sins of omission — not doing what our hearts tell us we need to do. Jesus knew that about us and He talks to us about it in today’s Gospel. “Get some perspective,” He says. “Sparrows are a dime a dozen, and yet God knows every time one of them crashes. Aren’t you worth more that a whole flock of sparrows?” Indeed we are, and we have to trust in the full extent of God’s fatherly affection for us.
So what exactly is it that God promises to those who trust Him? Is it immunity from injury and bad luck? Unfortunately, no. What God promises is that whatever happens, including the most dreadful of disasters, He will not leave us alone and unassisted. He will stand by us and walk with us and give us what we need to do what is necessary. We may well have to surrender our lives, but God will not allow us to be crushed or destroyed. He will never allow us to lose our selves.
In the end, we have nothing, absolutely nothing to fear, if we walk with Him and trust Him. That is God’s promise and He always keeps His word.
