Concern for Concern

Concern for Concern
May 5, 2014
1 Peter 5:7  "Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you."

Jesus, during His first miracle, turned water into wine.  It is quite the oddity of all His miracles, because it provided no physical healing or spiritual benefit.  Nobody got "saved" and it really wasn't critical to the salvation of mankind.  He didn't even want to perform the miracle.  If you read the account in John, judging by His response to His mother who requested it, Jesus appears slightly reluctant.  He suggested that running out of wine wasn't an issue that concerned His ministry or mission in life; it wasn't time yet to reveal Himself.  So, why did Jesus break protocol and perform the miracle?  Two things come to mind.

The first reason that comes to mind was out of His respect for His mother.  She asked it of Him and Jewish law required a child to obey and honor his parents. Jesus was bringing honor to His mother.  But if you examine that reason closely, Jesus was an adult male, not a child.  In fact, if you read the account, He spoke to her as her superior, suggesting He was the head of the household, calling her "woman".  Sure, He wasn't allowed to disrespect her, but not performing a miracle over running out of alcohol for a party would not have crossed the line into disrespect.  Honoring His mother, though a valiant reason to perform such a miracle was probably only part of His reasoning.

The second factor to consider why Jesus performed such a miracle is quite simply human compassion for a human concern.  Scripture says very clearly that we are to cast our cares on Him because He cares of us.  He was honoring His mother, but more importantly He was loving His mother; He was caring for His mother.  It was a concern for His mother, therefore it was a concern for Him.  This miracle demonstrates that even human concerns, which sometimes have no spiritual consequence, are still important to the Lord.  If it is important to you, then it is important to Him.  The concerns of your heart are the concerns of His heart.

This does not mean every time your heart has a whim that He will grant your every wish.  First you must weigh your own heart against all selfish motives.  If, putting selfishness aside, your heart is still concerned with a matter, then His heart is concerned with the exact same matter.  It doesn't mean He will grant the request; maybe He will simply comfort you, consoling your heart.  But either way, your heart matters are His heart matters.  Today your heart is concerned with an issue and His heart is concerned for you.  It is important to you and you are important to Him.

This is an opportunity to bring all your concerns to Him, giving Him the opportunity to be concerned with the matters of your heart.  He does care about them, despite you feeling like He is ignoring you.  There is a small caveat to Him being concerned for your concerns, though.  When scripture says cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you, it means you have to give them to Him.  It doesn't mean you simply share them with Him and you hang on to them.  It means you throw them at Him like a hot potato, getting them out of your lap.  If you hang on to your concerns, He isn't able to manage them for you.  Give your concerns to Him today, because He does care for you.  He is quite aware of your heart matters; they matter to Him.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  John 2:1-11, James 4:1-3