“Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” -1 Peter 5:7

This week, I’m breaking down this one verse word by word, phrase by phrase, in the hopes that it lingers in our minds in the best kind of way. This is the fifth and final installment.

“…for He cares about you.”

Give all your worries and cares to God, because He cares—He cares about YOU.

This final phrase in the verse shifts the whole thing from a good spiritual tip that makes your life better into something more. Something more personal, more powerful.

If you’re willing to do the difficult, scary, even dangerous work of trusting your cares and concerns to God, you will experience peace. Not because of some transaction. And not because of a self-help formula. You’ll experience peace because God cares. He’s a relational God who is with you; He is for you; He is engaged in your life and wants the best for you.

This isn’t about earning something or pleasing God or being a better religious performer. This is about a loving God who doesn’t want you to suffer unnecessarily.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” -Jesus (Matthew 6:34)

Jesus didn’t promise life would be easy. Quite the contrary. He said, “follow me,” then He suffered greatly. But He also talked constantly about a kingdom of heaven that is right here in the middle of this earthly existence. It’s just out of plain sight in the realm of “look more closely.” It’s the open-handed experience of peace in the middle of chaos. It’s the optimistic joy despite the painful circumstances. The honest grieving while never giving up. It’s the skip in your step when the path is still unclear.

The kingdom of heaven on earth is walking with the God who cares for you and trusting that He’s got this. Which is a relief, because, left to my own understanding, this life if frick’n nuts.