Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10: 29-31).
Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy it? (Luke 6:9)
Due to family situations and my own rebellious nature, I left home when I was seventeen years old. I managed to get a part time job to help me pay rent on a sleeping room while I struggled through my senior year of high school.
During this time, I ran with the wrong crowd and began doing things that I knew were wrong. I definitely turned away from God- and was deeply distressed by doing so. Satan was good at attacking my mind with the thoughts that I was hopeless, helpless and worthless. At night, I would turn my face toward the darkened wall and cry myself to sleep. I could almost hear Satan say, “Look at you! You have made such a mess of things. God will never use you now!” I am so glad that God never felt that way about me.
Listen to the words of Jesus, “Two sparrows are sold for a farthing. However, not one of them falls to the ground without your Father.” A farthing was equivalent to 3⁄8 of a penny. If two sparrows were worth only a farthing, think how little the value for one sparrow would be. Yet God knows when one sparrow falls to the ground. Then Jesus said, “Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows.” Do you hear in those words- we are worth saving?
In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” We are created to thrive- not just survive. We are made to succeed in God’s creation. In fact, we are the crown jewel of God’s creation- worth saving.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell into trouble, but God still deemed mankind worth saving. In the following verses it is made known that God saw our plight:
For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him (Isaiah 59: 12-16).
God saw the situation we were in. Then- through His Son, Jesus- He came looking for us. Luke 19:10 is truly music to our ears: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Jesus considered us worth saving and paid the ultimate price to accomplish that goal. Again, Scripture declares this truth:
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (II Corinthians 5:21).
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit (I Peter 3:18).
Jesus died to save us. He rose again to help us live lives that are pleasing to God. Why? We are worth saving!
No matter what other people say- we are worth saving. No matter what Satan says- we are worth saving. No matter what we think- we are worth saving. God Himself has decided this.
Dave Snyder is an Ordained Bishop with the Church of God – Cleveland, Tennessee. Before entering the ministry on a full-time basis, he was a school teacher. He also coached middle school basketball for eight years.
Dave and his wife, Sara, have two children — Craig and Karen. They also have one ten year old granddaughter — Breanna.
Dave and Sara pastored in West Virginia for thirty-six years. Sara is now retired from the banking industry, and Dave is retired from pastoring. However, Dave currently serves as prison Chaplain for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Writing essays, articles, and devotionals is a real passion for Dave. He also enjoys playing musical instruments and singing.
by leaps and bounds 
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