He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the humble;
he casts the wicked to the ground. (Ps. 147:4-6 ESV)
Do you ever feel like your life doesn’t matter, like you’re just an expendable character?
When the pandemic began in 2020, my husband and I binge-watched the Star Trek shows from the 1960s. (Beam me up, Scotty, and transport me away from reality.) In each episode, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock would boldly go where no one had gone before. (Cue the music.) But we noticed a pattern in each episode. If a character wore a red shirt, he was destined to be zapped, vaporized, or in some manner killed off. And nobody mourned him.
It turns out die-hard Trekkies have been joking about the red shirt characters for years. You may not be a Star Trek fan, but no doubt your favorite show features minor characters who die off, and no one cares.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m an expendable character. Unimportant. Easily replaced.
After all, the earth is home to about eight billion people. I’m just a small, insignificant face in the crowd.
I know God values each individual. The same God who numbers the stars also designed the tiniest strand of my DNA. The smallness of my existence doesn’t escape his notice.
I know it, but I don’t always live like I know it. We live in a society that recognizes and rewards the rich and powerful, the celebrities and influencers. The movers and shakers are the main characters, the ones who count.
I listen to the lie that says a life well-lived comes with a string of letters behind your name, the lie that says making an impact requires a multitude of friends, fans, and followers.
Sometimes I forget that God doesn’t see things that way. Jesus gravitated toward the minor characters whose names don’t get mentioned in the credits. He pointed out their acts of love, faith, and generosity, things no one else noticed.
Consider, for example, someone the Bible calls “a sinful woman.” A prominent Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to dinner, and this woman crashed the party. Not only was she insignificant; according to public standards, she was downright unsavory. But she washed Jesus’s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Then she broke open an alabaster jar of expensive perfume and anointed his feet. When Simon criticized her actions, Jesus shined a spotlight on the sinful woman, saying,
“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:47 ESV)
Read more about expendable characters at The Glorious Table: https://theglorioustable.com/2022/03/you-are-not-expendable/