God Says... "Cast all your cares on me!"

By Jason V (Ponderings of a Pilgrim Pastor)

On the way home from Wal-Mart yesterday, Family News in Focus Weekend got my attention with a stunning fact: the average age of first pornography exposure for young boys is eight. That's right, eight. As the father of a seven-year-old, that nearly made me drive off the road. 

I know that in this world of nearly universal high-speed internet, my boys will be exposed to pornography.  I don't know when, but I know it will happen. This thought alone makes me sick to my stomach, not to mention the idea that one or both of them may become hooked on the trash.

As a parent, I have many cares and anxieties.  We moved to South Carolina five months ago and I worried that my children might not make friends.  Every time we have guests to our house for a meal, I'm nervous about what my children might say or do.  When I consider the depravity of my own heart and my own failings as a husband, a father and a Christian, I worry that my children will suffer for my sins.

I can easily be overwhelmed by my cares and anxieties, but then God comes to me and calls me: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7, ESV)  But can I really?  If I am to cast my cares on my God, I need to know two things: that He really loves me and that He can handle my cares.

How do I know God loves me? "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8, NIV)  When God gave His Son for me, He gave me the very best and most perfect gift anyone could ever give.  He proved that He would hold nothing back to redeem me and make me His forever.  Simply put: No one could ever more clearly demonstrate love for me than God did in the gift of His Son on the cross.

But can God handle the cares and anxieties I have?  "Nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37, NIV) "What is impossible with men is possible with God." (Luke 18:27, NIV)  Of all the miracles in the Bible, I think the one that most clearly demonstrates the power of God that I can trust to handle my anxieties is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Christ did not just come back to life, but He rose again never to die again.  He defeated death!  If He can conquer my sin on the cross and then death itself in His resurrection, suddenly all of my anxieties start to take their proper place beneath His royal throne.

My God is the One who loves me more than anyone, though He knows the sin of my heart completely.  He saved me from my sin at the ultimate cost to Himself.  My God is also the One who is able to overcome every enemy.  Even death itself is shattered by His undying power.  This God, so loving and so powerful, is the ONLY One I can trust with my cares and anxieties.  The more clearly I see who He is and what He has done for me, the more foolish it seems to try to carry anything myself.

Jason is blessed to be married to a wonderful woman and to have three children (two boys, aged seven and four and a one year old baby girl). He serves as the Pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Cheraw, SC and blogs over at Ponderings of a Pilgrim Pastor. He enjoys strong coffee, good books and nature walks with his family.