Daily Devotion
Cast Your Cares – Coin by Coin
By Jennifer E. Jones
Guest Writer
CBN.com
– Welcome to tax season. Lately, I've had money on my mind, as I'm sure you have too. Deductions, credits, 1040 forms, 1099 forms, schedules… It all means that it's time to take stock of what you have, what you wish you had, and what the government wants back.
This year I'm looking at more than my personal finances. God has taken a magnifying glass to my spiritual finances as well. What have I been storing up inside my soul? What needs to be deducted?
This all started a month ago when I moved. By my own choice, my simple, calculated life was turned upside down. I moved to the big city where the cost of living was considerably higher – in more ways than one. Leaving my comfort zone meant that I was out of my element. Everything was new and scary.
During my first few weeks, I worried a lot. I would ride the downtown train racked with fear about everything from paying my bills to whether I was making a good impression on my new boss. High crime rates and a falling housing market added to a growing list of troubles that kept me up at night.
In a sense, my anxiety went on a shopping spree, picking up every care and concern that she could possibly find. My faith was in the red.
Can you identify? Do you know those times when you're deep in the debt of worry? And you look to your faith only to find that you don't have enough to cover your expenses? Your head is swirling with worst case scenarios, and every day you're waiting for your market to crash.
"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?" – Matthew 6:27 (NASB)
Worry has no currency in this world. None. Going over that problem again and again in your mind won't solve anything, and it won't get you anywhere. Worry can only succeed at getting you frustrated. It weakens your faith and allows fear to take control.
Newsflash: You're not in control. You can't always keep your life perfectly balanced like you do your checkbook. You've got to turn it over to God. He's the only one who can keep you in perfect peace in a volatile world.
"Cast your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." – Psalms 55:22 (NIV)
God gave me an amazing illustration that works well for a daydreamer such as myself. Wherever I am, I imagine that someone is next to me and in His hands is a large pot full of coins. Whenever a problem comes up, I see it as a coin in my hand that I drop into that pot. Sometimes I'll even physically stretch out my hand and make the motion with my hand of dropping the coin. In my head, I can hear the sound that the coin makes as it hits the other coins.
Clink. Just like that, I'm casting my cares. They're His now. He is my "care taker."
With every worry that you toss His way, you will feel freer. The burden of fear will lift off your shoulders and on to His, which is where they're supposed to be in the first place. You can relax and know that every bill that life hands you has already been paid by the Father through Jesus Christ.
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