Cast all your anxiety on him because
he cares for you. (I Peter 5:7)
In
my office, there's a sketch of Jesus hugging a lamb. I didn't buy the sketch
because I believed the artist got His facial features right. I bought it
because it reminds me that Jesus loves me. My natural inclination is to think
that God sees me the way I see me, which tends to be as a failure. I need reminders that He cares for me,
especially when things aren't going the way I want. When things aren't going
the way I want is when I tend to be anxious.
Caring seems to involve two main ideas. One is the provision of what is necessary. I tend to want that part to include what I want, not just what I need. The second is to do the right thing in the right way at the right time. I tend to want that part to include what is convenient to me.
I'm reminded of the time that Jesus fell asleep in the stern of a boat and a storm came up. The disciples woke him and asked him to save them. I can imagine their feelings. They were in the middle of a storm. Things were getting pretty difficult, and Jesus was sleeping. Sleeping! Then there's the time that Jesus was told that Lazarus was sick, and He deliberately did not go until His arrival was four days too late. "If you had been here," both Martha and Mary admonished. There's also the time a gentile woman went to him because her daughter was possessed. He ignored her until she trespassed on someone else's property, effectively refusing her request several times and even insulting her. Over and over, the question people ask about Jesus and His Father when things aren't going the way they want is, "Doesn't He care?"
The reality is that it is because He cares that these things happen. They are part of His caring. Among the things that these things teach us is the permanence of God's caring. Just as children have to learn that people exist even if they can't be seen or heard, so we need to learn that God and His love for us continue to exist even if they can't be seen or hear.
Some years ago, I read a book that described the psychological responses made possible by the experience of love, by knowing and believing that someone cares. As I read, it occurred to me: He's describing joy. Joy is the response to caring. I have since discovered that I experience joy as a response to someone caring for me, but also as a response to my caring for someone else. A friend has shared a video that touches on this theme. (Link to Ron Franklin's video)
The other key point in today's passage is that we can only hold on to one thing at time. We can either hold on to our anxiety over our circumstances, or we can hold on to joy. Too often, we try to hold in to both. In order to experience joy, we have to let go of anxiety, and as long as it is nearby, we're likely to pick anxiety back up. The only way to have joy is to throw our anxiety away. I don't know about you, but I'm far too likely to dumpster dive after that anxiety. The only solution is to cast that anxiety to someone who will haul away the trash to a garbage dump where it can be burned.
Caring seems to involve two main ideas. One is the provision of what is necessary. I tend to want that part to include what I want, not just what I need. The second is to do the right thing in the right way at the right time. I tend to want that part to include what is convenient to me.
I'm reminded of the time that Jesus fell asleep in the stern of a boat and a storm came up. The disciples woke him and asked him to save them. I can imagine their feelings. They were in the middle of a storm. Things were getting pretty difficult, and Jesus was sleeping. Sleeping! Then there's the time that Jesus was told that Lazarus was sick, and He deliberately did not go until His arrival was four days too late. "If you had been here," both Martha and Mary admonished. There's also the time a gentile woman went to him because her daughter was possessed. He ignored her until she trespassed on someone else's property, effectively refusing her request several times and even insulting her. Over and over, the question people ask about Jesus and His Father when things aren't going the way they want is, "Doesn't He care?"
The reality is that it is because He cares that these things happen. They are part of His caring. Among the things that these things teach us is the permanence of God's caring. Just as children have to learn that people exist even if they can't be seen or heard, so we need to learn that God and His love for us continue to exist even if they can't be seen or hear.
Some years ago, I read a book that described the psychological responses made possible by the experience of love, by knowing and believing that someone cares. As I read, it occurred to me: He's describing joy. Joy is the response to caring. I have since discovered that I experience joy as a response to someone caring for me, but also as a response to my caring for someone else. A friend has shared a video that touches on this theme. (Link to Ron Franklin's video)
The other key point in today's passage is that we can only hold on to one thing at time. We can either hold on to our anxiety over our circumstances, or we can hold on to joy. Too often, we try to hold in to both. In order to experience joy, we have to let go of anxiety, and as long as it is nearby, we're likely to pick anxiety back up. The only way to have joy is to throw our anxiety away. I don't know about you, but I'm far too likely to dumpster dive after that anxiety. The only solution is to cast that anxiety to someone who will haul away the trash to a garbage dump where it can be burned.
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