Invisible Suitcases- "I'm Not Sure You Care About Me"

Hope In Tigard

Here are some statistics. Anxiety and depression is the most common (by far) mental health diagnosis in America today. 1 in 5 Americans is seeking treatment for anxiety. 1 in 3 Americans recognized a downward turn in their mental health over the past 3 years.
Citing dry statistics runs the risk that we make anxiety all about someone else. It’s anything but that. It’s what Peter calls, “your anxiety” in our text for Sunday. Anxiety is having a list a mile long of present and future concerns that are yours. It’s the generalized sense that you get in your gut that something could go wrong at any moment. It’s anxiety that can come bunched and local, or general and ever-present. It’s the tenseness that comes after swirling fears take up residence in your heart. It’s the waves that roll over and emotionally squash you like a tank might - waves that can seem to have the power suffocate the life right out you. And it’s anxiety that has its roots in an idea that’s packed in our invisible suitcases – the idea that says, “God, you don’t care.” Bidden or unbidden, faith or no faith, anxiety comes after us.
Anxiety comes after us, and so Peter comes after anxiety. He says: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Maybe you're like me, and you find yourself doubting whether that verse can be real. Can you really ask off your anxiety? Is there really a way to be rid of it? I want you to be in church tomorrow so that you can hear the full answer.
Suffice it for now to say that Christ is more than capable of carrying your anxiety for you. He says cast your anxiety. Why? Because he cares for you. Know this. He has cared for you so much that he has sent his Son to die on the cross so that every care, every worry, every anxiety that comes, we can answer it, knowing that Christ on his cross has made our heavenly future sure.