How to Care Too Much Without Being Worried

Caring is the most human thing to do. There are many words for “care” in Greek. Two of them are used in 1 Peter 5:7 and give the perfect difference between them.
“casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].”
1 PETER 5:7 AMP

Cast all your cares because He cares. Wow. Should we actually cast all our cares? Will that make us careless or care less? Will that make us carefree or not care anymore?
Psychology says one of the most difficult tasks in life is to convince yourself that you do not care. You will have to repeat it over and over to yourself and others and you will still not find peace. No matter what you are in the world; liberal, criminal, realist, atheist, even the worst person on earth, there is someone or something you care about because that is how you were designed; to care. This orchestration to care reaches its max when one becomes a parent, biologically or logically.

What about faith? When I have an issue at hand, isn’t it normal to worry about it? Real faith is not denying the existence of a problem. It simply denies the problem a place of influence. My substance of faith is not based on my circumstances but on the reality of what isn’t yet seen. Real faith does not cause me to deny that I don’t have money or that I need money; it makes me emotionally stable in my financial crisis because my conviction is not based on what I see. That is just beautiful. The vicissitudes of life is no justification to be worried.

Worrying doesn’t mean you care. Worry is the sin of leaning on your understanding instead of trusting in God. Jesus said in Matthew 6:27, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”. Worrying is anxious care. The Greek word for the word “worrying” has the same root word for the word “cares” in the verse “casting all your cares”. It means solicitude. It has an idea of distraction. Any form of care that makes you anxious is called worry. Beloved, let us not normalize worry. Worry is a problem that has never solved any problem. As humans, are we supposed to worry sometimes? The answer is in 1 Peter 5:7. Worrying is pretending you care more than the God who said He’ll take care of it.

Worry is one of those sins that is so subtle. It can show up in your own words to curse your life. We speak 150-300 per minute. That is about 50,000 words a day. 70% is subconscious. Research says we have a negativity bias and tend to value negative thoughts over positive ones. 95% of what we say is repeated most of the time. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” (Prov 23:7). What have you been thinking about and saying to yourself in the loneliness of your thinking? As Joyce Meyer would say, “Think about what you are thinking about”. Have you brought negative thinking from your distant past into your immediate future?

Matthew 13:20-21 says “the seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” Worry comes to attack the Word of God you have. If the Word has no root in you, you will let go of the Word. We can all say nice words until hard times hit. When worry attacks you, do you hold on to God’s Word in your heart or the Word was simply in your head so what is planted in you wilts under the heat of the sun?

Worry does nothing but pull you down. When you’re worried that something may happen, worry doesn’t stop it from happening. It doesn’t make you human. It makes you a prophet of doom over your own life. It breaks you down. It distracts you and distorts your reality towards negative aspects. Worry is a burden. It is burdensome. It changes your focus. It makes you focus on your problem instead of your solution. It magnifies the problem with increasing attention. If you give in to worry every time life becomes hard, worry will control your life in hard times where you need peace and joy the most.

It all starts with denormalizing worry in your mindset. Realise that you don’t have to worry for a single moment in your life, because Jesus is your rest. Worrying is not planning. Worrying is not caring. Worrying is not thinking. Worrying is stressful. I can think about what I will eat, drink and wear tomorrow without worrying about it. Whenever you begin to worry, think about God’s Truth concerning the matter and cast it ALL on Him. You will realise that many of the things we worry about are actually petty petty things. No problem is ever bigger than God. We have a Father who is willing to take care of us all the way. Put your trust in Him. He knows your end because He planned it.

Worry can be used as an English word but should not be tempered emotionally. You were made to care, not to worry. Language may mix it but don’t mix it emotionally. Care is heartfelt love. Worry is a mind disturbance. Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden is light. He gives us rest for our souls. Read Matthew 11:28-30. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Care because you do. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

I love you ❤