God's care is not fake, but genuine!

Luke 12:1-7 

1 By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other's toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus' primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. 2 You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed. You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. 3 You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day's coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town. 4 "I'm speaking to you as dear friends. Don't be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. 5 Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life--body and soul--in his hands. 6 "What's the price of two or three pet sparrows? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. 7 And 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 sparrows.

Food for thought!

Jesus' words are rather difficult to grasp. However, underlying them is the idea of genuine. Being genuine. The opposite of genuine is fake or hypocrisy. So, Jesus is condemning one and commending the other; he is condemning hypocrisy and commending being genuine. The hypocrite is never genuine; he is always play-acting. The basis of hypocrisy is insincerity. God would rather have a genuine, honest sinner, than someone who puts on an act of goodness.

The correct attitude to life is being genuine. The main reason for this is that everyone likes what is genuine and hates what is fake.We like genuine space parts, genuine beer, genuine perfume, genuine doctors, genuine sermons...We all trust what is genuine.

 God is genuine. God is not fake. And he put in each of us a genuine part, that is beyond the reach of everybody except himself. Our soul is genuine because God made it in his own image and likeness, "God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God's nature." (Gen. 1:27).

Man's power over man is indeed fake, not genuine, because it is strictly limited to this life. A man can destroy another man's life but not his soul. But not with God. God's power is such that it can blot out a man's very soul. It is, therefore, only reasonable to fear God rather than to fear men.