This morning I stayed home and listened to a message by John Piper that can be found here. It’s based on 1 Peter 5 (primarily verses 6 & 7) and it’s called, “To Be Cast Not Carried.”
Piper highlights the connection between humbling yourselves (verse 6) and casting your anxieties on God (verse 7). Humbling ourselves is an anxiety-evoking action. It requires that we empty out our egos. Piper cites four examples of humbling ourselves:
1) Admitting to our mistakes.
2) Asking for help.
3) Doing an ordinary job.
4) Hanging out with common people.
In each of these acts, we run the risk of losing aspects of our ego – our pride, our self-esteem, our reputation. And yet, if we do not humble ourselves, we are no more than a “posture-er”, having inauthentic faith.
The key to humbling ourselves is in casting our cares on the Lord. Piper notes that the only other New Testament usage of the word translated “casting” is when the people “cast” their cloaks on the donkey as Jesus rides into Jerusalem for Palm Sunday. God carries our burdens as a donkey carries what is laid on him.
Finally, Piper draws the parallel being 1 Peter 5:6-7 and Philippians 4:6 which says -
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
If we are to cast our cares on the Lord, we need to do a lot of praying, both prayers of gratitude and longing for the desires of our hearts. Only by laying out our whole selves before the One who knows us better than we know ourselves can we lay our burdens on Him.
