Cares: April 25, 2013

TODAYS WORD FOR THURSDAY APRIL 25, 2013.

CARES

DEFINITION:

To show affection; to show due concerns and interest; heed; solicitude; anxiety; a cause of worry; concerned.

SCRIPTURE:

Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. I Peter 5:7.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Do you ever have the feeling that nobody cares? We have talked to many children and adults that really feel that nobody cares for them. In many cases we understood why they felt that way.

There was the young girl about nine years old, that we met, living in a lean-to shanty house on a garbage dump in the Philippians. She sat alone wondering if someone would come and help her family. Did anyone really care?

There was the mother, we saw, crying for help in a hospital in Honduras. All she wanted was some medicine for her baby son who had cancer. He was so sick and the doctors said that without medicine there was no hope. Did anyone care?

And right here in America we talked to a man about 50 years old who came to accept Jesus as his Savior but said he was not sure why, because he had nothing to live for. He lived on the street and did not have a family or a friend.

We are sure that there have been moments, maybe not quite as dramatic, when you felt nobody cared for you. When you have your lonely moments and wonder if anyone cares, where do you turn to? The scripture that we have written above tells us to put all of our cares in the hands of Jesus, because He cares for us.

Let us remind you of the story you know well from the fifteenth chapter of Luke concerning the father and his prodigal son. The son had left home with all his riches and spent it all. Once his money was gone everyone deserted him. He was hungry and alone and felt no one cared for him.

The son knew his father was a caring man who treated his hired help well. He decided to return to his father and admit he had been wrong and did not deserve to be called a son. He determined he would ask his father to make him one of his hired men. When the father saw his son returning he ran to meet him and welcomed him home. The father prepared a feast to celebrate his son’s return.

Jesus used this parable to illustrate how much our heavenly Father cares about us. There is great celebration in heaven for every sinner who comes to God in repentance.

Jesus cares about every need in our life. He cares when we are hungry, when we are sick and when we are in sorrow. In Matthew 15:32 we see Jesus caring for the hungry when He fed the 4,000. Jesus said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry.”

In Matthew 14:14 we read that Jesus had compassion for the sick and healed them. When Lazarus died, Mary went to find Jesus and tell Him about his death. Jesus saw her weeping in sorrow and He was moved with compassion. John 11:35 tells us that “Jesus wept.”

The Bible is also very clear for us that as Children of God, when God blesses us with time, talent and treasure He expects us to use what he has given us to care for others. 

In Luke 12:48 Jesus said, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much, much more has been committed, of him they will ask more.”

There are many references in the Bible that reminds us to be available to help and care for the poor. In Luke 14:13-14, Jesus said, “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Just as God cares for you in your time of need, He wants all of His children to care for those around them in their time of need.

When you feel that no one cares for you take a moment to read the verse we put above from I Peter. YES, if you give all of your cares to Jesus, He will care for you. We can be assured that Jesus cares for us and that when we come to Him, He will welcome us just as the father welcomed the prodigal son when he returned. Your friends, family and neighbors may let you down but your Lord never will.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 3:3.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

PRAYER:

Thank You for the promise that You have given me that if I cast all my cares upon You that You will care for me. May I learn this principle in my life so that I can share with others how much You care for them?