Warm Worms
Warm Worms
. . . casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you. (1 Pet. 5:7)
Keep ’em Warm
Did you hear about the young boy ice fishing who was catching one fish after another? An old man asked him his secret. The kid bent down and spit something out of his mouth. Wiping off his lips and looking up at the man, he said, “I keep my worms warm.”
In like manner some people feel like they have to keep their worries warm. Anxieties occupy their mind like the worms occupied the boy’s mouth. They’re constantly fretting—apprehensive, fearful, and troubled. They lose sleep, lose weight, and lose hope. But there is a better way.
Spit ’em Out
The word care or anxiety can mean “to strangle.” Worry chokes the life out of us. There may be greater sins than anxiety, but few are more disabling and destructive. The word cast means to “throw off,” like when we cast off a coat or cast a fishing line. It represents a decisive action that is neither passive nor partial. Anxiety is something to get rid of, to throw away, to spit out!
First Peter 5:7 is a directive, a command, not a suggestion: “casting all your care on Him.” Give all of your cares to God. Let Him carry the weight of worry that has been dragging you down and filling you with fear, rendering you ineffective and miserable. He is willing and able to do that for you. Anxiety is not something to hold on to!
Bottom Line
Worriers don’t make much of an impact on this world because they are so busy fighting imaginary dragons that they don’t have time to fight the real ones.