Worries

I’ve been thinking about 1 Peter 5:8-9 for quite awhile now. But before Peter counsels us to be on the alert for our enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion, he has a word of encouragement that I suspect many of us need today. 

 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” —I Peter 5:6-7 

We may talk about the first part of that sentence at another time, but it’s the last part that I think is so needful today: “Cast all your care upon him.” We live in an almost unprecedented time of anxiety. It’s dangerous to assume our time in history is worst than any other, but a ubiquitous media which seems to believe its primary purpose is to instill fear, coupled with a fragile faith foundation, causes anxiety even among Christians. 

Peter tells us there is a remedy for our anxiety: “Cast all your care upon Christ.” Not just some of it—ALL of it. We can give our anxiety to him because he cares deeply for us and will instill his peace within us if we simply leave our troubles with him. Our problem is that we give our anxieties to Jesus, but as soon as we finish praying, we pick them up again.

There’s an old gospel song that goes, “Take your heavy burdens to the cross; and leave them there.” It’s good advice that helps us access the Good News.