Ponder: About what do you care? Why?
Scripture: “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7, NKJV).
Question: Is care a good thing or a bad thing?
Answer: Yes!
To answer that question with more clarity we need to ask two additional questions: 1) What kind of care? and 2) About what do you care?
The Holy Spirit used several different New Testament words that come to us as some form of “care.” One of them means worry or anxiety. It goes back to the root word “division” and carries the additional flavor of distraction. Matthew, Mark, and Luke used this word in Jesus’ parable of the sower where the “cares of the world” choke out the word in the thorn-infested soil.
Too many hearts are distracted by “cares of the world” such as money, popularity, entertainment, and the endless magnetic attraction to sports. Parents run themselves ragged making certain their children are at every practice and every game regardless of conflicts with Bible class and Church. Ball has become Baal!
Peter urged Christians to cast all such worry, anxiety, and distraction on Jesus because He “cares” for us. Jesus’ “care” isn’t anxiety or distraction. It’s a different word meaning interest and forethought. Unlike the hireling who doesn’t care about the sheep (has no personal interest in them, John 10:13), Jesus is the Good Shepherd who cares for (but is not anxious or distracted about) His sheep.
Martha was distracted with secondary concerns. She cared about things that weren’t terribly important to Jesus (Lk. 10:40). What do you care about? Are you worried and distracted with what the world thinks you should care about? Cast all those anxieties on Jesus! Learn to care about the things He cares about. He cares for you with genuine interest
Hymn: “Living By Faith”
Prayer: We thank You, Heavenly Father, for caring about us. Help us to care about the things Jesus cares about. In His name, Amen.
–Joe Slater
