Cast Your Cares On Him
As a pastor, the Sunday after Easter is always hard. The week before, the seats are full. There's energy in the room. People are excited, ready for worship, and expectant for God to do something in their lives that day.
When we sing, everyone participates. It's loud. It's beautiful. It's moving.
When I preach, people are listening. They are engaged. I get "amens" at various parts of the sermon. It's encouraging. It feels like God is doing something in their lives.
The Sunday after Easter, the seats are empty. Most people don't seem to be ready for worship. They are not expecting God to do anything big. They don't sing very loud (or at all), and they often don't engage with the sermon.
It's deflating. I get discouraged. I often wonder what I did wrong at Easter to keep them from coming back. Was the sermon not helpful enough? Were we not friendly? Could I have done more to follow up, encourage them to come back? And what about all of those who weren't guests? Why did they not come back? What are we doing wrong?
The Weight of Responsibility
Honestly, that's not just on the Sunday after Easter. I find that to be a somewhat regular conversation with myself in my own head. I carry the burden of keeping people engaged, attending regularly, growing in their walks with Jesus, cheerfully giving to the work God is leading us in, and how to keep people from missing out on eternal life if they don't know Jesus.
Sometimes it really gets me down. I question whether I'm supposed to be a pastor. I get nervous about the future and worry about what will happen. It all feels like I'm carrying a giant backpack of bowling balls that I can't put down.
What's Weighing You Down?
What burdens are you carrying today?
Is it your work? Your finances? An important decision you are trying to make?
Is it something going on with your child? You don't know how to get them through this phase? Is it a phase? Will it be with them (and you) forever?
Is it your spouse? A failing marriage? A past mistake?
I think too many of us probably try to carry too much, and don't really give it to Jesus.
Our Self-Reliant Solutions
We might say that we do (give our burdens to Jesus). We might pray a little bit about it and ask others to even pray about it for us, but when we look at our lives, it's mostly filled with trying to carry it and fix it ourselves.
We do a google search to try and gather all the information about our problem, what's wrong with our child or our spouse, and try to learn everything we can to carry with us as we go into battle.
We watch as many YouTube videos and listen to as many podcasts as we can to find out how to perform better at our career, fix our marriage, and get our kids to do the right things.
We are constantly consuming content…way more content than our brains can even retain and/or process.
We are trying to find the information that we need to fix our problem or to fix the person that is causing our problems. We need things to go a certain way for our lives to get better, and the answer must be out there somewhere.
Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to learn more about things related to problems we face, but how much of our time is spent trying to figure that out rather than leaning into Jesus?
The Better Way: Union with Christ
If we have placed our faith in Jesus for salvation, He has come to indwell our lives. In the very depths and core of our being, we are in union with Jesus. If this is the case, then why are we trying to carry so much of our burdens ourselves?
Isn't His back so much bigger and stronger than ours? Can't He as the eternal, all-powerful, everywhere-present God of the universe carry much more on His shoulders than we can?
Of course He can! And He even tells us to come to Him with our burdens and that He'll give us rest.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
When I truly lean into my union with Christ and give my burdens to Him, I feel lighter. I feel more at peace. I still don't know what's going to happen, but knowing that He is involved with me in it, brings me assurance and peace regardless of what's in store in the future.
Wisdom Beyond Google
There's another benefit to giving our problems to Jesus. He is all-knowing and all-wise. Google, and whatever AI platform you are using, has got nothing on Him.
I'm not saying that Jesus can't work through technology, books, other people, etc. to give us insight as to what to do with the burdens we are carrying, but I'm not sure very many of us (including myself) are patient to wait on Jesus to even try to speak into it.
I mean, if Jesus really is all-knowing and all-wise, then shouldn't we give Him a chance to speak into our minds and emotions through our place of union with Him in our spirit? I mean visually we can all picture an ethernet cord plugged into a computer to access all the information on the internet, but we need to picture our own spirit being plugged into the all-knowing, all-wise One who sits above all things!
If He knows more than the internet, and how and why things were created in the first place, then maybe we should sit still a little longer and give Him a chance to speak into our burdens that we are carrying so much ourselves.
Jesus knows how to parent your child, make your marriage work, deal with your finances, and what decision is best for you to make at that fork in the road.
If we truly gave our burdens to Him and waited to allow Him to speak into it, we might find out that He speaks to our hearts and provides the information necessary to move us through those burdens into better situations and circumstances. And as we wait, we'll experience the rest He promises while He carries our burdens for us. It's a win-win.
When Circumstances Don't Change
Now with all that being said, we must acknowledge that sometimes Jesus isn't working towards making our burdens better situationally.
Sometimes, Jesus wants to remind us that abundant life isn't found in better situations but in Him (John 10:10, 11:25, 14:6).
In those moments, Jesus will give us peace and allow us to experience Him as our Life even when the things don't go the way we want them to in our lives or in the lives of the people we love.
Cast Your Cares On Him
Is there something you need to give to Jesus today? Are you carrying a burden and trying to fix everything yourself? Do you need rest, wisdom, or just the assurance that no matter what happens, Jesus is in control? Then cast all of them upon Him and drop the weight you are carrying today.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
Seriously, pause, get alone in a quiet place, and say the words to Him,
“I give my burdens, my problems, other people, and everything to You, Jesus. I release them to You. Carry them for me. Give me Your rest. Speak into my spirit what You want me to know or do in Your power. Give me assurance that no matter what results You cause or allow, that I’m good. Allow me to experience You as my abundant Life.”
