Ears to Hear

Good Morning,

     "Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully." (I Peter 5:6-7; Amplified Bible)  I was watching the movie, The Lord Of The Rings, recently, and I begin to think about the character Frodo.  There he was carrying this ring around his neck which was constantly causing him to become weaker and weaker.  Slowly the carrying of this ring was changing his personality, as well as what he thought about.  His thought process was being overwhelmed.  There was a point where he could not discern between 'good' or 'evil.'  Toward the end of the show he no longer believed his armor-bearer, Sam Wise, who had his best interest at heart, he believed Smiegel, the one who had already been taken over by the evil of the ring.  Smiegel had become schizoid due to the evil power of carrying the ring, he had developed a dual personality.  Frodo chose to follow Smiegel, who only wanted to posses the ring at any cost, verses Sam, who was loyal, faithful and selfless when it came to Frodo.   For the sake of this message, I submit that if we carry the cares of this world around our necks, we end up slowly being taken over by the evil that comes from carrying burdens.  Our Godlike personality becomes warped, schizoid, just like Frodo and our ability to discern between 'good' or 'evil.'  One day we are standing and the next we are falling.  Instead of us magnifying the Word or the promises of God, we end up magnifying the cares, worries and burdens that we are carrying.  "As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the word and it yields no fruit." (Mtt. 13:22; Amplified Bible)  Care here in these verses, carries the idea of distractions that cause anxiousness or taking thought.  As you see Fr odo throughout the movie, he is increasingly anxious.  Yet, he has one purpose, and that is to get the ring to the fires of Mordor, where he can once and for all throw it off into the fire.  This is what God's word tells us to do, casting.  Casting means to throw off or away from.  When we throw the cares or the distracting thoughts and anxiety away from us they will burn in the fires of God's glory.  When we trust God, then we are in fact demoting or humbling ourselves in our own estimation, then "He will keep us in perfect peace, when we keep our mind stayed on Him."(Isaiah 26:3)  

Love,