CASTING OR KEEPING?

CASTING OR KEEPING?
1Peter 5:7
Letting go can be hard to do, yet often necessary. How often do you hold on to things, emotions, attitudes, hurts and anxieties, etc. when you would be better suited to just let them go, but you don’t know just how to do so? I mean, what do you DO with such things? Where do they go when you let go? Where do you ‘put’ them?
 
1 Peter 5:7 tells us what to do with our cares. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  The word translated “casting” means ‘to throw upon’ and is used in Luke 19:35 to describe the way people spread their clothes on the donkey colt at Jesus’ Triumphant Entry.
 
 The word ‘care’ means distractions or anxieties. There are plenty of things that cause us to be distracted and anxious, so what do we do? We cast them upon the capable shoulders of the Savior, because when it seems that no one else cares, He does!  The second use of the word ‘care’ in this verse means ‘to be of interest, to matter’. In other words, the things that are causing you distraction are of interest to Him, they matter to Him because you matter to Him.
To be rid of these distractions, the anxieties that threaten to disrupt your life, we must give them over to Christ.
 
What hinders you from casting your cares upon Him? Perhaps it is pride, verse 6 of the same chapter tells us to humble ourselves before God, then cast our cares on Him. Pride prevents our coming to God for help with our cares. We may have an “I don’t need God”, or “I don’t want to bother God with this” or “God can’t/won’t help me” or even an “I’ll deal with this myself” attitude. Pride will cause us to try and bear burdens that we don’t need to shoulder. Help is available, so cast your cares on Him because He really does care about you!
 
Are you casting your cares on Him or keeping them to yourself?
 
The well-known hymn, Does Jesus Care? Was written by Rev. Frank Graeff, a Methodist minister who, during a time of deep personal testing, found comfort from 1 Peter 5:7. Falling to his knees before God, he poured out his heart to the One who cared. The peace of God flooded his soul and he rose from his knees shouting, “I know He cares! I know my Savior cares!” Soon afterward, he penned the words to this great song. J. Lincoln Hall wrote the music. Sing it today!