Fear Not, Therefore; You Are Of More Value Than Many Sparrows

Puzzled, the fisherman shook his head.

"Well" the manager continued - waxing lyrical to his theme "you could buy yourself a motorboat. And then, after say a couple of years you could buy a second one. Then perhaps after three years you could have a cutter or two.

And just think, one day you might be able to buy a freezing plant. Then you could go on to get your own helicopter to help you trace shoals of fish for your fishing fleet.

You could then buy your own truck to ship the fish to the capital thereby cutting out the middle man"

"And then what" the fisherman replied.

"And then " the manager concluded triumphantly " you wouldn’t have to worry. You could then sit down calmly on the beach, dozing in the sun and looking at the beautiful ocean."

" Well, my friend" the fisherman replied "what do you think I am doing now!" 2

You see we can get so caught up in the business of life, in the busyness of life that we forget what is important.

What is important is to be in Christ and with Christ. And that means then we should be reaching out our hand to those around us with the gospel of grace that Jesus told the disciples to proclaim.

But I think many of us are like that business man pacing the shore, only thinking about himself and his comforts and not any one else.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be in the boy’s glee club real bad. But I could not sing a note. So first I had to be in boy’s chorus where several of us who wanted to sing, had in effect group lessons several times a week.

I worked at learning to sing that the next year, my senior year, I was allowed to join the Boy’s Glee club.

One song that we sang has been with me for many years now and sums us for me what our Christian calling is all about.

Listen;

No man is an island,

No man stands alone,

Each man’s joy is joy to me,

Each man’s grief is my own.

We need one another,

So I will defend,

Each man as my brother,

Each man as my friend.

I saw the people gather,

I heard the music start,

The song that they were singing,

Is ringing in my heart.

No man is an island,

Way out in the blue,

We all look to the one above,

For our strength to renew.

When I help my brother,

Then I know that I,

Plant the seed of friendship,

That will never die. 3

We are not islands, but we are linked together by our Saviour so that we can help one another in our faith life.

We are linked to God as we realize that he does care for us so we are then not afraid to reach out to a borther/sister in need.

As we are linked to God, we realize that we continue to change.

Leighton Ford says, "God loves us the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way . Isn’t that true. God loves you, but at the same time He is moving, changing, reforming, renewing, redeeming you, because you are His child."

Ours is not a static relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ. It is always changing. We change as we begin to realize that we do no thave to fear the future, or worry about how we are going to live. And with that change, we are then able to reach out to others.