Many in our community and in our nation are dealing with incredibly high levels of anxiety and stress as we work our way through the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent financial ramifications. As Christians, we can lean upon God’s Word during times like these for a renewed sense of peace, comfort and calmness. One of our favorite and most reassuring verses when we start to feel overwhelmed is 1 Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

Jesus loves us and cares for us immeasurably more than we can begin to understand. Because of how much He cares for us, Jesus doesn’t want us walking through our lives carrying the heavy burden of stress and anxiety. He doesn’t want us feeling overwhelmed thinking about all the what-if scenarios. Jesus calls for us to cast all our anxiety on to Him and trust Him instead!

I don’t know about you, but when I hear that, I feel overjoyed and excited to be rid of my stress and anxiety. The problem is, as much as I want to give my anxiety to Jesus, I keep finding myself still holding on to it. We all tend to find that it’s not as easy to let go of it as it should be. I’d like to share with you all a visualization of what it looks like to be obedient to Christ in casting our anxiety on Him.

The word “casting” in the Greek is the word epirrhípt. It is only used twice in the entire New Testament but its other use can teach us a great deal about what we are called to do. In Luke 19:35 it says, “They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it.” It was Palm Sunday and two disciples were sent ahead to fetch the colt that Jesus was to make His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on. Having brought it to Jesus they threw (cast) their coats on to it.

To cast their coats onto the colt required that they take off their coats, place them on to the colt, and then continue on without them on. Notice how they didn’t white knuckle the coats? Notice how they didn’t cast the coats and then take them back? Now, this seems very logical and obvious to us when we are talking about physical coats. We can easily picture this happening in our minds. But understand this, this is the exact picture of what Jesus is calling us to do with all of our anxiety as well!

Jesus is calling for you to take the anxiety and stress off of your shoulders, as if it is a coat, and to lay it on Him and then continue on your daily walk without. You can pray and picture yourself handing your anxiety to Him as if it is a physical coat and walking away with your hands empty. You can trust Jesus completely to handle any and every situation because “He cares for you.”