How to Be Carefree Without Being Careless

 

When was the last time you felt truly carefree? That might be a loaded question for some of you. If so, I am sorry! 

But being carefree is your birthright as a believer. Let me help you learn how to be carefree without being careless. 

 

Casting Care on God

 

Did you know that being carefree is connected with humility? Get a load of this scripture. 1 Peter 5:6-8 (AMPC) says:

 

6 Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you,

7 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.

 

How do you walk in humility? You cast all of the cares and worries that you were never intended to carry to the One who affectionately and watchfully cares for you! He doesn’t miss a thing and is happy about His job as caretaker! He is chock full of lovingkindness and mercies that are tender (Psalm 103:4).

 

How to Release Anxiety 

 

How do you release anxiety? We’ll let Scripture explain itself. Matthew 11:28-29 (TPT) says:

 

28 “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Then come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. 29 Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me.

 

How many of you need to be refreshed? Yesssss! Thank You Jesus! He is our go-to Source – our Oasis in the midst of dry, hard places! 

Understand “joining your life with His” (being yoked with Him)  awakening to the truth that your life is already joined with His. When you believe this, you will operate from that truth. Meditate on your union with Christ and then intentionally visualize your cares and burdens in whatever form makes sense to you. Visualize Jesus and hand/release/roll all those cares to Him. You can do this in any fashion. Sometimes I visualize an inbox to Jesus and I see all my burdens written down and placed in His inbox while I literally skip or dance away. You can have fun with this.

Your union with Christ has already been established even before you were born (Ephesians 1:4, 2 Corinthians 1:5, 2 Corinthians 1:21). You are yoked in with Love (1 John 4:8, 16)! He is gentle, humble, and easy to please! He will cheer you up and refresh you! He will give you true rest because He IS our sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:8-11).

 

How to Rest 

 

I love the Message version of Matthew 11:28-30 which says,

 

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

 

We can take a real rest as we walk and work with Jesus – practicing the presence of God and resting internally even as we walk and work! As we connect to and awaken to our union with Christ, we can learn the unforced rhythms of grace. Meditating on Jesus and His masterful care for us, helps give us permission to rest. When He is “taking care of business” we can go about doing our assignments in rest because He is taking are of us. One way or the other it will turn out! We can learn to live freely and lightly – just like carefree well cared for children!

 

Experiencing Peace 

 

Living carefree looks like casting your cares on God, releasing anxiety and truly resting. Living carelessly looks like trying to escape our cares by medicating our pain. When we become careless, we end up hurting ourselves or others. However, being carefree is a very different thing! This authentic rest and peace of mind is a birthright of God’s kids! Let’s unpack this a little further. Philippians 4:5-7 (TPT) says:

 

5 Let gentleness be seen in every relationship, for our Lord is ever near.

6 Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, 7 then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ. 

 

God knows the pressures that can pull us in every direction. When I was younger, I experienced so much loss and pressure that, at times, I got so stressed out I would run around like a chicken with my head cut off. At one particular traumatic time, I was fired from a job. I was told that I was, “smart as a whip”, but that I was so frazzled, they wondered if I was “on drugs!” Drugs were not my issue! My issue was that I did not know how to cast my cares on God!

Let’s revisit verse 6. Even when our life could easily pull us in different directions, we can be gentle because the Lord is near – we are one with Him! God carries the stresses that threaten to pull us apart to the point where we don’t need to be worried about a thing! How? When we are saturated in prayer or communion with God, our requests can be full of faith. Why? Because we are one with Christ, Who authors and finishes faith (Hebrews 12:2). He is totally confident in His ability to take care of His own! We can be filled with gratitude because we are one with The Answer! 

We can tell Him every detail of our lives because He cares about every detail of our lives (Matthew 10:29-30)! If you care about it, He cares about it!!! And furthermore, He not only hears our cares, but takes care of them. What a good Father! 

God’s answers are so masterful they bring peace past our ability to understand! The answers come through Christ because He IS the Answer and we are one with Him!

 

Traveling Freely and Lightly 

 

Through Christ we are one with our loving Father. A good Father has happy, well-cared for children, who can afford to be carefree! 

THAT is your Father! You can come to Father God and say, “Papa – here’s a God-sized problem. I’m releasing it to you! Let me know if there is anything I need to do and help me do it. Either way, I’m not going to worry about it! You are taking care of me!” If you want to take it a step further, you can ask Him for insight for how He wants to provide for your problem!  

So, let’s get in the habit of casting our cares into God’s hands. Let’s learn a new default of traveling freely and lightly. We are adored children of God. We are sons and daughters in whom God is well pleased. We are adored because we are His!

 

Love,

 

Catherine