1 Peter 5:7

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

A lot of things have been going on in my life lately, lots of changes. Everything with my ministry (Rise Above It Missions) is going so well that it makes me wonder where this is going and where God is gonna take it and if I will be even strong enough to keep going with this. I'm about to start college which is kind of scary I guess, a lot of my friends are going away so it does make me think about the relationships that will end with that. Anyways, I've been thinking about a lot of things. There are 2 verses that have really jumped out at me during this time, I will blog about this one first and the second one is for another topic.

Please know that these are just my thoughts and my interpretations, none of this is like legit or anything. 

When I think about this verse I think about what it really means to cast ALL of my anxiety on Christ. I mean like ALL of it. In the bible, many times God says to trust him, to not worry about anything. But I am such an impatient person that if I don't see answers or results right away I start to worry about things. One of the things that God has been teaching me is not to worry. When I think about this verse I think about it in a metaphorical way. 

Imagine that you have a pile of bricks, right next to it there's a wheelbarrow and you are welcome to use it as often as you need to. Now you have to move that pile of bricks from one end of the room to the other end. You have two choices, you can either carry them all in your hands, or you can use the wheelbarrow. If you have too many bricks to carry with your own hands they will be too heavy and you won't be able to pick them up, you might be able to, some of us are stronger than others, but you would have to go slow and take your time, you can also carry as many as you can but then you would have to make more trips than if you used the wheelbarrow. If you use the wheelbarrow, you'll be able to put as many bricks as it can carry and you'll go a little faster and make less trips. Christ is your wheelbarrow, when life throws too many bricks at you, too many struggles and things that cause you to be worried and anxious, He is there waiting for you to just lay it all on Him. You wanna know why? Because casting those things on Christ allows you to keep going with life, it makes life a little bit easier. Life is hard enough, sometimes God commands you to do things so that you don't make life harder for yourself. 

But here's the catch to my analogy. You know what you can't do? You can't try to put some bricks on the wheelbarrow and carry some bricks in your own hands. A) It is not effective and B) it is completely ridiculous. To me this verse is difficult because it's very much based on an "all or nothing" system. Cast ALL of your anxiety on Him, not just some of them. I'm not saying don't do anything either, I'm not saying that if you're worried about being unemployed  you should just sit there and let God worry about it without doing nothing. No, you do your part and apply for a job, but let God worry about what will happen after you apply. Do your thing and move your feet but give up to God things that are beyond your control. He does not want us to be carrying half the pile of bricks in one hand and the other hand in the wheelbarrow. He desires for us to trust in Him and put the entire pile of bricks on Christ. That give us both hands to drag the wheelbarrow, when I think of it that way, both of my hands are free, if I ever get tired of dragging the wheelbarrow, if I ever get discouraged or my faith in Christ weakens, I can take my hands off the wheelbarrow and do whatever I want with them, I can put them together to pray, all of my anxieties are still on Christ but prayer will allow me to strengthen my faith.

But the absolute most important part of this verse is the second part. Is the answer to the question. Why? Why is the wheelbarrow there in the first place? Why does God choose to operate in this "all or nothing" system when it comes to this verse? Because he cares for you. Wow, that's huge. Let me get this straight, the God of the universe, wants me to not worry about the big or petty things of life BECAUSE HE LOVES ME?!?! SAY WHAT NOW?!?! Not only did he take human form and sent His son to die for my sins, but He also now wants me to not worry about ANYTHING and trust Him with EVERYTHING. That's the part about this that blows my mind.

So those are my thoughts on this verse. To me this verse is on God's little "TO DO" list for us, I like to believe that sometimes when God commands us to do something is not for His benefit but for ours. Sometimes God wants us to not rely on who we are, but to sit and wait for Him to reveal what He's made of.