I trust you had a refreshing ,wonderful and for some extended weekend. As we continue to build our momentum of “Becoming”, which always focuses on moving forward and upward, let’s go within and begin.
Release your understanding upon your actions. Live it and gracefully acknowledge.
Accept grace, joy and wisdom. Give thanks for it with a grateful heart. What then? Keep doing it. What? Being you.
Then you are “Becoming” the real, true, authentic you. All you were intended to be.
Still have questions, concerns, doubts or worries?
On this edition of “Becoming Today”, we’ll focus on casting our cares and trusting the outcomes.
A key element of being “Becoming” is living a righteous life.
To do so requires we cast all of our cares upon God.
Ensuring that we are the same page let’s explore some shared definitions.
Righteous living on our path to “Becoming” can literally be defined as being “right especially in a moral way”. Being righteous means doing the right thing at all times not only for yourself, but also for others.
Other key elements of being a righteous individual are:
“You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.
Titus 2:1-8 (NIV)
Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.
Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children,
to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.
In everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness
and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”
Moving forward then let’s establish that to “cast” literally means to “throw.” When you throw something to someone, you are releasing it, trusting they’ll catch it and handle it appropriately. So whether it’s tossing the car keys or passing a basketball, it’s the same analogy as releasing your cares to God. You are putting the responsibilities for them in His court.
So what exactly are your cares? They are different for each and every one of us, but can generally be understood as our personal fears, worries, doubts, anxieties, or troubles.
By handing them off to the Lord we are demonstrating trust in God that He is able and willing to deal with our concerns.
Inasmuch as Scripture Instructs us to cast our cares, and Jesus himself told people not to worry. Not to show obedience in this matter, would be the opposite of righteous living. It shows not only a lack of obedience but can be described as being dishonorable to God.
Why? Because if we do not release the anxieties for Him to handle and try to battle them alone, we are trying to do His job. Attempting to take His burdens upon our shoulders will crush us. However if we follow the advice of the Apostle Peter that weight can be immediately lifted.
Peter’s advice is to cast all our cares upon God.
None of us need to weigh ourselves down with emotional baggage. We don’t have to carry the burden of our worries. Nor must we submit to the bondage of fear, self doubt or loathing.
God is willing to release us from all of it. By taking all of our anxiety and concerns upon Himself.
By now you’re saying something similar to ( if not exactly as) ‘easier said, than done’. True but “Becoming” as we have well established by now involves work. Sometimes arduous labor. Making deep commitments and then elevating that dedication to the level of covenants.
Understanding that as well as coming together with common expressions of the involved concepts , now go ahead and ask me, “what’s next?”.
Oh good question. Glad you asked. For there are some steps to adopting this practice and making it a positive habitually routine of our daily living.
That’s why this week we shall delve deeply into our need for and our responsibilities to “Let go and Let God,” beginning tomorrow here on “Becoming Today”.
In the meantime. Here’s some homework… (isn’t almost all work being done at home these days?)… Anyway before we talk again, ponder these suggestions:
“Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6)
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1),
“Don’t worry” (Matthew 6:31).
And maybe even “Dont’ Worry Be Happy”?
To cast your cares upon God is truly an accountable measurable leap of faith. I have never said it would be easy nonetheless it is required for our “Becoming Today”.
As is the ability to trust.
So what does trusting actually mean?
We know it’s important, there are reminders of that fact almost constantly and here in the US you need only go as far as your wallet for a reminder of “In God We Trust”.
Though many who believe or claim they are, really are not.
To give us a working definition of the basic elements of what it means to trust in someone or something, let’s agree to discern the term as:
“Exhibiting and practicing full faith and confidence in an idea or individual, with reasonable expectation and reliance on their abilities to operate with the sureness of truth”
That seems like a lot to ask. It is. This is where we need to accept the idea that there are varying levels of trust that are perfectly acceptable.
For example it’s okay to trust the garbage collection service will haul your trash away, but you should not expect them to be trusted to deliver the mail, much less to transport you to eternal salvation.
There is trusting within limits and trusting implicitly. Therefore when using the term we need to understand that we should treat trust with differing levels of accountability, expectation and protection.
I don’t use the word childhood when discussing my past. I was always expected to be a short adult and circumstances dictated that I grow up a lot sooner than most. So let me say early in life I was taught to trust no one. Keep everything secret, do not tell anyone anything because they’ll use it against you.
This is not the proper lesson on developing trust. It is one I had to spend many years unlearning.
I had to learn early that there is a significant amount of discernment necessary, even coming to understand that for my own protection I had to trust others outside of the ones we are commonly expected to believe in. In addition I had to trust that inner knowing to not let the ones I was supposed to trust find out I was trusting others.
I could go on for several chapters on that, so for the purposes of our discussion today let me just say, I have known people with ties to organized crime that had more honor and were more trustworthy than some of those who publicly portrayed themselves as saints or claimed to be called to help.
In my early life trust was intertwined with secrets, lies and hiding. The good news is I have come to know that truth and faith are what truly go hand in hand.
Turning within, we can find our center. Balance. Ground and prepare to shift our momentum to the next level, moving both forward and upward. All year long we’ll share daily reminders about focusing within as we also continue our initial focus of what it means to be “Becoming Today”:
“Coming together as independent individuals, sharing a planet, and intentionally setting our combined focus on becoming the strongest, most empowered God-fearing women we can be; it is vital we set these objectives, hopes and shared visions in writing, to make them truly achievable and to hold each of us and the “we” accountable. “”Coming together as independent individuals, sharing a planet, and intentionally setting our combined focus on becoming the strongest, most empowered God-fearing women we can be; it is vital we set these objectives, hopes and shared visions in writing, to make them truly achievable and to hold each of us and the “we” accountable. “
In this year of 3.0, we will focus much on accountability both personally and as the groups we choose to associate with. It should be an interesting year, hopefully filled with growth and change.
We’ll talk more about that tomorrow on our next edition of “Becoming Today”.
Becoming Today with Rochelle Jeanette 