Thursday March 11 – Day 23 – IN HOPE: CAREFREE

Thursday March 11 – Day 23 – IN HOPE: CAREFREE

“6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NIV)

“6-7 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7 (MSG)

Anxiety.

I never remember this word being used as much as it is today.  So many young adults right now will say, “I am feeling so much anxiety right now”.  When I was young, we didn’t use that word to describe what we felt.  We would either say we were stressed out and simply had to deal with it (which usually meant ignoring it, pushing it down deep inside of us or allow our external actions relieve the stress i.e. physical activity, etc).  Today we are seeing more and more examples of young people feeling anxiety and being able to express it in those terms.  Anxiety has the ability to shut us down and make us slaves to that emotion.

And yet the Apostle Peter reminds us that as we humble ourselves under the gracious care of God that we can cast all of our anxieties on Him.

Why?

Very simply, because He cares for you.

He cares for you.

Let those words sink in a moment.

Think about all of the people in your life who care for you. The ones who TRULY care for you.

Would they do everything they could to protect you? You bet they would!

Would they make sacrifices to make your life better? Without question!

Would they take a bullet for you? In a heartbeat!

When someone cares for you, they do it because they are motivated by your well being and care.  That is how love responds.

You can lay down every anxiety on Jesus because He has experienced everything you have, and He understands.  He has walked the road of humanity, although also being fully God, and His heart breaks when one hurts.  God was so overwhelmed by the state of the human condition that He felt it necessary to sacrifice someone He loved, His Son.

I love how in the Message version of this passage that instead of using the word Anxiety, Eugene Peterson uses the following:

“Live carefree before God”

Carefree

Without a care in the world

When my kids were younger, I loved when they would both spend time together.  They were so consumed with having fun that they weren’t aware of their parents watching them.  As we get older, we get more concerned with how we appear in front of others, never wanting to be uncool.  However, in those innocent days, you could see the authentic joy they would experience being with each other.  One of my favourite photos captures the time when Emma decided to dress Riley up in girl clothes and he just let her do it.  Why?  Because he knew that she cared for him and that he could be himself.

Without a care in the world.

Are the cares of this world dragging you down from the life you could be living in Jesus?  Are you wide awake at night worrying about those things in your life that always bring stress and anxiety?

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

If you would rather be living a carefree life before God, we need to release each and every single worry and lay them at the foot of the Cross.  I know this is easier said than done, but if we don’t, we will always be caught up in the anxiety, which leads to depression and a life that is not what God had intended for you.  Casting our anxieties has to be a daily exercise for each one of us, for it to truly work:  “Lord, I cannot control my emotions or my feelings in response to this, but I know YOU can take this anxiety from me because YOU care for me.”

You care for me.

For those who have sleepless nights, cast your anxieties at the foot of the Cross before your head hits the pillow.  Do it so you can live carefree before God, living the life He wants for you.  Whatever causes your greatest stress will not last forever, even though it feels like it will never change, or you will never be able to be free from this stress.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Taking this daily step will help you to move towards a carefree life before the Lord.  I wish I could promise you that your stress and anxiety would disappear for good.  Sadly in my experience I still deal with stress that raises my blood pressure.  However as I cast the cares of the day at the foot of the Cross, I know that I can face the challenges of the day a little more equipped.

Life during the pandemic has been anxiety inducing.  Do not let these external factors critically affect your joy in the Lord.  Fight for the joy that you experience.  Living carefree knowing that the sun will shine again one day is sometimes all that we need to get to the next day.

God cares so much for you that as you cast your cares, He will be there and He will take them upon Himself.

The King of the Cosmos LOVES you and CARES for you.  As we celebrate this truth this Lenten season, may we cast all of our anxiety on Him so that we can live the carefree life He desires for us.

One more day until the weekend.  Cast your cares on Him and know the sun will shine again.