the hairs on your head are all counted

Losing Yourself

Posted on by Betsy

According to scientists, the average human head has approximately 100,000 hairs and about as many follicles. You are born with all your follicles and do not develop more as you age. Hair grows at a rate of half an inch per month, and we lose between 50-100 strands of hair each day … unless you are the parent of a teenager, in which case you can double that.

If you are wondering why we are talking about hair today, our Scripture makes the wonderful statement that God numbers the very count of hairs on your head. Isn’t that amazing? Granted he gets to skip over the baldies, but still, to think that he can know us in such finite detail is something to marvel.

Matthew 10 records Jesus’ instructions, encouragement, and admonitions to the disciples when they encountered great resistance to their public proclamations that Jesus is Lord. They were being bullied and persecuted for their faith and they struggled to stand up for their beliefs among all the nay-sayers around them. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been put down for being a Christian? Take heart and read on.

Matthew 10 (The Message)

29-31 “What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.

God loves the tiny canary but he loves you even more. Read that again. He is the author of all creation and gave his only Son for our salvation, which proves his love for us. He pays attention to what we do and knows us down to the last detail. Does that encourage you or intimidate you? If intimidation is your answer, what are you trying to hide?

32-33 “Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?

34-37 “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me.

This part of the Scripture takes a sudden turn. We’ve gone from the gentleness of being reassured of our worth to what feels suddenly threatening, as Jesus makes it clear that however we have treated him in our lifetime on earth will determine how he will treat us in eternity. Do you pretend you don’t know him when the going gets tough? Do you remain silent when your beliefs are ridiculed and disparaged by a secular society that has turned its back on God?

Are you in or are you out?

38-39 “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.

It is important to note that this section of Scripture is peppered with an instruction to not be intimated by the world. In fact, in the passages that surround it, Jesus says “do not fear” three times in six verses. If we chose him over every other relationship on earth, there will be nothing to fear. The sharp knife that divides earthly relationships is Jesus’ way of helping us understand that we are called to make a radical commitment to him and learn to die to self so that we might live with him. Devotion to Christ must come before devotion to any person, place, or thing.

Where are you on this spectrum of public belief? Is God calling you to make your faith known?

Pick up your cross, and follow him.

God Loves us More than These by Michelle Robertson

Persecution

Posted on by Betsy

There are places in our world where owning a bible, going to church, or proclaiming your faith could result in imprisonment, beatings, or even death. It is hard for people living in free countries to fathom that there are countries where being a Christ-follower is dangerous. North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Iraq rank among the top nations where practicing Christianity is punishable by death. It is estimated that one in eight Christians world-wide lives in a country where practicing their faith is outlawed. (You can read more about this here)

When free people read the following passage in Matthew 10, we think about the rejection and ridicule we might experience for sharing our faith. We don’t think about danger if we are privileged enough to live in a country where such activity is permissible.

But today, I challenge you to read it with the lens of the persecuted church in mind:

Matthew 10 (Common English Bible)

26 “Therefore, don’t be afraid of those people because nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed, and nothing secret that won’t be brought out into the open. 27 What I say to you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, announce from the rooftops.28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a small coin? But not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father knowing about it already.30 Even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 Don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

Don’t be afraid. The stark reality that some could could kill the body but have no power over the soul is shocking when set in the context of countries who literally are torturing and executing Christians for their faith. Yet Jesus boldly proclaims three times not to be afraid, because the Father knows your situation down to the very last hair on your head.

Friends, we must pray for the persecuted church.

32 “Therefore, everyone who acknowledges me before people, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. 33 But everyone who denies me before people, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Do you ever deny or downplay your faith? When you’re at a party or meeting someone for the first time, do you play it cool until you know if your faith will be accepted? Do you change the subject at family gatherings rather than suffer someone’s sarcasm?

Those of us who live in free nations must not hesitate to go and tell the good news of Christ. If ridicule is the worst weapon that might be formed against us, bring it on. We have brothers and sisters all over the world who can’t even possess a bible. Maybe we could open ours and do what it says on their behalf.

Free to Tell By Michelle Robertson