October 7, 2011

This week we have been talking about caring and the cares of this life.  We have learned that we must care about certain things to a certain degree, but when something begins to cause us concern that affects us adversely then we have crossed the line to anxiety which is fear.  And fear is distrust in God.

 

I don’t think as Christians our problem is that we don’t care enough, but we care too much.  We carry many burdens that we were never supposed to carry.  We reserve certain issues in our lives to carry while only bothering Father God with those things that “we just can’t take any more”.

 

But that was never meant to be.  On Monday we read the scripture:

 

1 Peter 5:7
Amplified Bible (AMP)
⁷Casting the ^[a]whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, ^[b]once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you ^[c]watchfully.^(A)

 

I like where it emphasizes “casting the WHOLE of your care upon Him”, “ALL of your anxieties, worries and concerns”.  Not just some and not just anxieties, but worries and concerns too.

 

How many times have I heard someone say, “well I guess I’ll just pray about it, that’s all I can do”.  So many times casting that care, going to God is a last resort, not the first refuge.

 

We have geared ourselves up to worry and to be concerned.  In times past, the degree of your worry was an unofficial indicator of how loving you were or how much you cared about someone.  A person would tell someone that they had worried about them as if it were a way of saying how much they loved them.

 

We have worrying and anxiety down to the point that as a society we must take medication to slow that boat down.  The cares of this life have so overtaken us that we cannot live the life that Jesus came to bring us, the life that He died to give us.

 

John 10:10
Amplified Bible (AMP)
¹⁰The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it ^[a]overflows).

 

Worry and anxiety is the key thing that the enemy is using to steal, kill and destroy our lives.  Jesus said that He came that we might have and enjoy life and have it in abundance to the full till it overflows.  We cannot entertain worry and anxiety and enjoy our lives.  The two do not and cannot co-exist.

 

When was the last time that you could genuinely say that you were enjoying your life in abundance to the full until it overflowed?  Does that describe your life?

 

So we must cast our care on Him.  We must exchange our worries and concerns for His abundant life.  As we hand off our worries to Him, He will in turn hand back to us a joyful life.  A life of abundant joy to the full till it overflows.  And why is it important that it overflows?  So that it will overflow onto those around us, so that they can see the joy of the Lord genuinely.

 

What a trade off!  We hand Him the things that worry us and drag us down and in exchange for that He hands us His perfect peace and joy.  So why then do we hang on to the worry?  Why then do we hang on to those anxieties?  Do we really feel that we are abandoning those that we love and care about if we cease to worry about them?  By placing them in God’s hands we are doing the most admirable and beneficial thing for them.  Abandoning the worry and handing them over to God IS the most loving and caring thing we can do for them.

 

So the next time someone says “so long, take care”, just smile and say “Thanks, but I’ll leave the care with the Lord”.

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