1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our anxiety on Christ, because he cares for us. I had a friend up tonight and we were discussing this passage. He was telling me about wanting to get his life back in line and how he just wasn’t sure he could repent yet because he’d had a period where he’d made the wrong choices and he just wasn’t cleaned up yet.
I really like this friend. He’s a Christian who just needs to get back on the path. From the first time I really saw him, I knew that he had some light in him by his actions. It really saddened me to hear him talking like this, although I think if we were all honest, we’ve all taken the same line before. We all sometimes think we need to make ourselves acceptable to God instead of realizing he’s the one who makes us acceptable.
Don’t we have the cart before the horse?
What is that to say to Christ? That we will go somewhere else to get ourselves clean and then we’ll come and see him? It’s blasphemy when you think about it. If only we could learn to trust him when he says he wants to clean us up. If only we could believe that he is capable.
If my roommate did something wrong to me and asked forgiveness, I know I could give it and I’d probably forget the event right quick. I am sure of something else though. If I wronged him in some way and asked forgiveness, I know I’d get it from him, but I think I’d have a hard time giving it to myself.
Yet what does the passage say? It says to come because he cares. You don’t wait until you get yourself cleaned up. You come to him first not so he will care about you but because he already does care about you. He wants you to come and cast all your anxiety on him not so he will care but because he already does.
A look at the word anxiety indicates that it seems to focus on concerns of this world. When used in the gospels, it is spoken of as the cares of this world. When Paul speaks about it, he speaks about suffering under the care of all the churches. These are things that are burdens and can weigh us down.
Christ is offering to take them on. He cares for us. He is the good shepherd who cares for his sheep and knows them by name. That should give us pause. Christ knows our name. In Galatians 4 Paul says that we know God but then turns and says “or rather, you’re known by God.” It’s good that we know God. It’s astounding that he actually knows who we are.
To all struggling like my friend, I say the same thing. Come. It is the last command given to us in Revelation. The last message given to us in Scripture is to come.
And we should. Why? Because he cares for us.
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