Waking up to a barrage of anxious thoughts is no way to start a Saturday, or any day for that matter. Reluctantly, I got up, stumbled through my apartment assessing the chores I should do, assembled my mental "to-do" list, and...yup, hopped back in bed. As I labored in vain effort to go back to sleep, the seemingly multiple millions of thoughts were now synchronize-swimming in my head and forcing me back out of bed. As I sat up, these words filled my heart, "do not let cares get the best of you today." Responsively, I turned to the familiar words of Scripture that have long anchored my soul and once again today they were fresh, vibrant, and life-giving manna. "Look at the birds, free and unfettered...CARELESS in the care of God. And you count far more to Him than birds." (Mt. 6:26 Msg) "Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and He cares for you watchfully."(1 Pet. 5:7 Amp)
Cares will, no doubt, get the best of us when we forfeit to them what is best in us (our peace, faith, joy and life.) To be free and unfettered is to be loosed and unchained from the things that weigh us down. In our humanity we gravitate towards a mental approach to worries which is futile and frustrating and causing us so much stress we make ourselves sick. God alone is our Problem Solver. His name is Burden-Bearer. He is our CareTAKER. It is our choice to let God take care of us and it is also our choice to let God take cares from us- so when He instructs us to cast our cares, we ought to cast them. When He says release and let them go, we need to challenge our resistant gripping.
To be unshackled from care is a crucial element to a healthy walk with God. It is our responsibility to live unhindered by the circumstances of life. But even more than mere choice and responsibility, such freedom is our privilege and inheritance as children of God! What a joy floods my soul when the truth of this truth resonates in my heart. We get to be free! Stop for a moment and chew on this truth. We get to be free! We get to hurl our daily trash bags of garbage at His feet, willingly, cheerfully and repeatedly. This is good news. This is what it means to be free and unfettered! It isn't that being free from cares is the complete absence of issues, but it's acknowledging the total and sufficient presence of God. "For where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, emancipation from bondage, and freedom."(2 Cor. 3:17 Amp) Today, I will fling ALL of my cares on Him because He told me too, because He is abundantly able and never too busy for me, and because He cares...affectionately and watchfully, He cares...
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