Unload your worries

Diana Kerr

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Most of us have heard this verse many times. Personally, I’ve unfortunately allowed it to become one of those quaint, little Christian one-liners that has lost its power.

Let’s dissect this verse a little and change that. Let’s start with cast, a word we use when talking about actors, fishing, or broken bones, but rarely in this context. Here, cast means “to throw upon or place upon.” My mind envisions dumping things on God, the way you do when you wrangle too many grocery bags into the house and unload the weight on the counter with a sigh of relief.

On to the mention of anxiety. In the original Greek, this is the same word as the word worries in the parable of the sower where it says that “the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). Casting anxiety on God isn’t just beneficial for our emotional health, but it can actually help us from falling away in tough times.

There’s so much more to say, but here’s a final thought: Most of us dump our anxiety on other people, but that’s not what’s encouraged here. This verse encourages us to cast our anxiety on God. Why? Because he cares for you. I know, it sounds flowery, but think about the gravity of how much God loves you. To death. Literally.

Worried? Throw it on God.