“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:7
If you’re a Christian, this world is set against you.
Whether it be persecution, suffering, sickness, death, grief, struggles, sin, or just the burdens of life, the enemy works endlessly to draw us away from Jesus.
How do we then live as the church in a world that Jesus directly tells us is coming for us? It’s set against us. It wants to lead you astray and get you to reject the faith. It wants you to take the easy path and just go with the flow of the culture. How do we persevere in the faith when at times it seems like everything around us is trying to get us to give up the faith?
We look to the personal, joyful, sure care of God.
God’s Care Is Personal
Big corporations generally aren’t known for their personalized care of their customers.
If you have a problem with Amazon and try to call customer service, even if you get to talk to an actual person, it’s not going to be Jeff Bezos himself or any other executive. The service a major corporation provides its customers doesn’t work that way.
But God doesn’t see His people as some nameless, faceless mass like customers are to big corporations. In the kingdom of God, you are known personally and have direct access to God Himself at any time.
First Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
He cares for YOU! The One who spoke galaxies and all of life and everything into creation cares for YOU! The care God shows His children is incredibly personal. God doesn’t use a cookie-cutter approach with us. He knows you personally. And He cares for you personally.
God’s Care is Joyful
God also cares for us joyfully. He’s not reluctant or resentful in His care for His children. God delights in drawing His children back to Himself. He delights in forgiving them. He rejoices when we’re safely in His arms again after we’ve drifted away. God cares for us with joy.
God’s Care Is Sure
God’s care for us is also sure. It’s certain. Those who are His will not perish. For those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, God will preserve them to the end. Jesus says of believers, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29)
True saving faith, however, doesn’t see in a promise like that a license to just live however you want because you think God will save you anyway. No, saving faith hears and sees in a promise like that the great care of our loving Father, and that loving care moves them to want to obey Him and share His great care with others.
Turn from your sin and believe in Jesus today. And know that His care for you is personal, joyful, and sure.
This post was adapted from a sermon called The Care of the Kingdom.
A Thrill of Hope 