Yesterday I was in the dollar store and noticed one of those ball throwers for your dog. This one was a scoop that you put the ball in and then you fling it and the ball flies. Similar to the photo in this blog. I'll bet many of you have played with these at some point in your life. With little effort, you can really make that ball fly. Our dog Digby hasn't quite figured out fetch yet. If I throw a ball he runs after it, but then wants you to fight to get it back. If I'm playing fetch with him, and I'm trying to distract him, I'll sometimes just toss the ball near me. He kinda just looks up at me as if to say, "that's not how you do it". He wants me to throw it far.
A favourite verse is 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." This verse can give comfort when we're faced with difficulty and encouragement that we're not meant to carry our burdens, we can give them to God. But as we often do, we like to sanitize things and make them very neat and tidy. We think of someone helping lift a burden off of our backs and the freedom that it brings us. This is certainly a good analogy and has helped me understand what it means to give my burden to God. But can you think of another time when that word "cast" is used in the Bible? Perhaps by Jesus? Here's one example, "And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons" (Mark 1:39, ESV). When we read about Jesus casting out demons, "neat" and "tidy" would not be words I would use. Violent, forceful, direct, powerful are words I would use to describe these encounters. In the Greek (the original language of most of the New Testament) the word we translate as "cast" or "casting" have a common meaning. After all, that's why we often translate them into the same english word. That common meaning is the word "throw". Think about it. A similar meaning to Jesus casting out a demon, and us casting our anxiety on God. I think God is giving us permission to be more than "neat and tidy" but to get a bit forceful and direct with what is weighing us down. Could we possibly speak to our problems, cares, concerns and worries like Jesus did when casting out demons? "Hey sickness, lust, depression, negativity! Are you listening to me! By the authority given to me by God's Word, get out!"
When stuff comes that brings us down, let's stop being nice to it. Rather, let's throw it far away. Cast it onto Jesus, because Jesus cares for you!
-Jason
A favourite verse is 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." This verse can give comfort when we're faced with difficulty and encouragement that we're not meant to carry our burdens, we can give them to God. But as we often do, we like to sanitize things and make them very neat and tidy. We think of someone helping lift a burden off of our backs and the freedom that it brings us. This is certainly a good analogy and has helped me understand what it means to give my burden to God. But can you think of another time when that word "cast" is used in the Bible? Perhaps by Jesus? Here's one example, "And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons" (Mark 1:39, ESV). When we read about Jesus casting out demons, "neat" and "tidy" would not be words I would use. Violent, forceful, direct, powerful are words I would use to describe these encounters. In the Greek (the original language of most of the New Testament) the word we translate as "cast" or "casting" have a common meaning. After all, that's why we often translate them into the same english word. That common meaning is the word "throw". Think about it. A similar meaning to Jesus casting out a demon, and us casting our anxiety on God. I think God is giving us permission to be more than "neat and tidy" but to get a bit forceful and direct with what is weighing us down. Could we possibly speak to our problems, cares, concerns and worries like Jesus did when casting out demons? "Hey sickness, lust, depression, negativity! Are you listening to me! By the authority given to me by God's Word, get out!"
When stuff comes that brings us down, let's stop being nice to it. Rather, let's throw it far away. Cast it onto Jesus, because Jesus cares for you!
-Jason
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