Carefree part 2
There's such a big difference between being carefree and being careless. It is literally the difference between life and death. You can't live--you can't truly and fully experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love that is the gift of God--if you're being too careful OR too careless. One will cause you to never do anything and the other will cause you to do things that you shouldn't. And then there's being carefree. Which is an entirely different animal. Look at Philippians 4:6, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Pretty close to our key verse for this Rant series about casting your cares on Him because He cares for you. It's the same idea. The same vitally important truth. It's not about you. It's about Jesus. It's not about you overcoming. It's about how Jesus already overcame the world. You don't have to be "careful" or full of care. Other translations are in the vein of being anxious for nothing. And, listen, I'm not saying you shouldn't care about things. Of course you should. I'm simply saying that you shouldn't--and can't--care about EVERYTHING. Some things, quite frankly, aren't worth your time or your attention. Boundaries. Not giving yourself to any and everything. Saving your three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) for what is really important. And I think that's where the prayer and supplication and thanksgiving comes in. We spend so much time worrying about what we don't have, or what we don't want to happen. Negative thoughts about negative things. That, to me, is anti-prayer. And you guys know my favorite Bible verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." A lifestyle of prayer where instead of the "break glass in case of emergency" kind of mindset, where we only include God when we're in trouble... I'm saying there's a more excellent way. And I'm not saying you shouldn't break that glass if you find yourself in an emergency. You absolutely should. I'm saying if you include God from the start you might not get to that emergency situation. He can keep you from falling. And, let's be real, He wants to keep you from falling. He wants to set your feet on solid ground. Plant you on the Rock. But the way that manifests in our lives is by letting go of a lot of stuff that wants to drag us down and hold us down. Giving it to God. Letting God and letting go. Laying aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets us. Not fighting. Not trying to conquer, not trying to overcome... but simply being still and knowing that HE is God. We are MORE than conquerers in Him. He conquered. We get to enjoy the fruit of His labor. That's the Divine Order of things. But you can't enjoy anything when you're running around like a chicken with its head cut off. You can't enjoy anything when you're full of anxiety (or cares). Again, it's ok to care about things. But the right things. My step-mom (second mom) once taught a class I was in at Bible college. And the biggest thing I took away from that class was this: "If you're not going to be mad about it a year from now... do you really need to be mad about it right now?" Which is not to say there aren't things that should make you mad. Of course there are. Bullies, for example, make me mad. I don't like it. But sometimes we get all riled up about things that, in the grand scheme of things, don't really matter. We're full of cares. When we should be full of trust. Trusting that God will work things out for us. Trusting that all things work together for God to those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. Ok. So, tomorrow I think we'll look at being careless. Or rather, NOT being careless!