I just noticed an error that I've been making in reciting and stating this week's verse...I have been stating, "Casting all your cares upon Him...", while the correct recitation should be, "Casting all your care upon Him....".
What difference does that one little letter make to you? Well to me, it makes a fairly significant difference. Just like we discussed that we are to cast all of our cares, big and small, this change makes it an even more complete action on our part. We don't individually cast our cares, coming to Him and saying, "O God, I have a care that I need to hand over to you." Instead we can come to Him and say, "O God, here is everything that I care about, it is Yours. I know you care about me, You have shown me how much You love me, and I know that You are working everything together for my good as I trust You with my life." Nothing is left in our care, we have turned the power over our life and over our cares to the One who cares more about us than we can even begin to understand.
I am not saying that we still should not present individual cares and concerns to God --- I know He desires our communication with Him over every aspect of our lives. But reading this verse in this way, transcends its meaning from a verse that centers on the resolution of our individual problems into one that centers on our complete reliance and surrender to God's good and perfect will.
More and more through the study of our verses I hear the call to surrender my will to the will of the One who has proven His perfect love for me through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. More and more I am becoming less stubborn and more willing to let go and truly cast my care onto Him.
Robert and I attended a wonderful Christmas service at First Baptist Church of Amarillo tonight. The music was truly beautiful and was a great way to bring in the Christmas season with a true focus on the birth of our Savior. I urge each of you to find some way to start your Christmas in a manner that brings Christ to the center of your celebration, and then work at keeping Him there. It becomes more and more difficult not to get caught up in the worldly holiday season which has become something quite different than the Christmases of my childhood where the norm was to sing "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger." For those who are not celebrating Christ's birth, I am fine with them not using the term "Christmas", for I am fairly sure that Jesus is not too keen being associated with the holiday as the retailers promote it. But for believers, I hope we all will proclaim, "Merry Christmas!" and as we do, I hope we also do our very best in making this season a time that allows us to especially extend God's love to others in acts of kindness and compassion, just as God extended it to us all when He sent His Son as the best Christmas gift ever.
What difference does that one little letter make to you? Well to me, it makes a fairly significant difference. Just like we discussed that we are to cast all of our cares, big and small, this change makes it an even more complete action on our part. We don't individually cast our cares, coming to Him and saying, "O God, I have a care that I need to hand over to you." Instead we can come to Him and say, "O God, here is everything that I care about, it is Yours. I know you care about me, You have shown me how much You love me, and I know that You are working everything together for my good as I trust You with my life." Nothing is left in our care, we have turned the power over our life and over our cares to the One who cares more about us than we can even begin to understand.
I am not saying that we still should not present individual cares and concerns to God --- I know He desires our communication with Him over every aspect of our lives. But reading this verse in this way, transcends its meaning from a verse that centers on the resolution of our individual problems into one that centers on our complete reliance and surrender to God's good and perfect will.
More and more through the study of our verses I hear the call to surrender my will to the will of the One who has proven His perfect love for me through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. More and more I am becoming less stubborn and more willing to let go and truly cast my care onto Him.
Robert and I attended a wonderful Christmas service at First Baptist Church of Amarillo tonight. The music was truly beautiful and was a great way to bring in the Christmas season with a true focus on the birth of our Savior. I urge each of you to find some way to start your Christmas in a manner that brings Christ to the center of your celebration, and then work at keeping Him there. It becomes more and more difficult not to get caught up in the worldly holiday season which has become something quite different than the Christmases of my childhood where the norm was to sing "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger." For those who are not celebrating Christ's birth, I am fine with them not using the term "Christmas", for I am fairly sure that Jesus is not too keen being associated with the holiday as the retailers promote it. But for believers, I hope we all will proclaim, "Merry Christmas!" and as we do, I hope we also do our very best in making this season a time that allows us to especially extend God's love to others in acts of kindness and compassion, just as God extended it to us all when He sent His Son as the best Christmas gift ever.
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