Before reading on, this is addressing manageable anxiety, not situational or medical anxiety.
Raise your hand if you sometimes try to manipulate outcomes, people, or events to get the results you want (even if these are good and godly hopes). Raise your hand if, when these outcomes, people, or events don’t go your way, you feel out of control and prone to worry or stress. I don’t know if you heard the pause in the typing there, but it was because I was raising both of my hands. When dealing with these anxious thoughts, it is so easy to become a slave to them. When fighting anxiety, or fighting anything, we first must use the Christian’s defense: His word. To use another method would be a supplement but can never be a replacement. We must see how God wants us to fight this battle before making our own weapons and armor.
The first verse that comes to mind on this topic is found in the gospel account of Matthew.
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘what shall we drink?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25-34
The word here used for worry is the same used in 1 Peter 5 for “cares” and in Philippians 4 for “anxious.” We know the Lord would not ask something of us which we could not handle. And I do not believe any person is capable of never having a singular worry or anxious thought pass through their mind, especially when in a high-stress situation (like exams or car accidents). It seems here that dwelling on a collection of these thoughts in a way that changes who you are in your walk with Christ is what Christ commands us not to do. Google defines anxiety as an intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations, but specifies that anxiety is only an indicator of underlying disease when these feelings become excessive, all-consuming, and interfere with daily living. Matthew 6 asks us to live a life not marked by dwelling on fearful and anxious thoughts.
How does Jesus show us the way to deal with anxiety? Let’s look at the way He talks to the crowds.
“Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
Why would Jesus ask such a question? He knows that life is more than food and clothes. Yet, He wanted the audience to also admit that life is more than a meal, a good paying job, being married, etc. Ask yourself, isn’t life more than what you are worrying about? In order to answer these questions, we have to track down these anxieties. What is it you are really worrying about? Your anxiety is feeding off of the unknown, and ignorance is never going to help you face those fears. Write them out if it will help put it into words. What if … I lose my job?
What if … my wife’s treatments fail and I lose her?
What if …
Whatever your worry, be able to identify it. Then, answer the question. What IF I lost my job? Then I would have to look for a new job, and do without some of the frills of life until I found one. I would ask ____ for a recommendation and I would find jobs online or through some friends. Putting an answer behind the what if makes it less of an impending doom and more addressable.
“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Now that we have identified the questions we have unanswered, the potential problems that bring us worry, it is time to address them. Jesus takes one example and points to God’s promises: God says I am His child, which is of much more value than a bird; if He takes care of them, He will take care of me.
I trust God. There is not a time in my life I can recall in which I would not confidently say that I trust God. But, it recently has come to my attention that I have not been trusting in Him. God has made hundreds of promises, of statements about our future and His will, that I have believed- up to a point. Surface level, of course God is always with me; of course He comforts me, and will work all (the good and the bad) together for good. He will restore joy, give peace beyond understanding, draw near to us, and protect and provide for our needs. Yet, these truths become uncertainties when I no longer seem to have any control over my life. I know He will never leave me or forsake me, until my best friend or uncle or spouse dies; then, I am certain I am alone in the grief I feel. I know God can sustain me and has given me value and purpose for His kingdom, until I fear I’ll be single for the rest of life; so, I rush into a relationship I know is beneath the standards God would hold. I know the Lord has given to me so that I can bless others and share His love, until money is tight; due to the circumstances, I decide it is better to make this car payment than to blow my money on some mission organization or disaster relief fund. I know that incomprehensible peace is given to me through Jesus, until I believe that the person who wronged me went too far; so, I say I don’t “hate” the person but always avoid them so that I do not ever have to show them kindness or acts of forgiveness. God has made so many promises; but, if I live my life as if He will not fulfill those promises, I cannot truthfully say that I trust in Him.
A few of the Promises God has made to us:
Hebrews 13:5 He will never leave us or forsake us; He is our helper
James 1:5 He will give to us liberally, specifically wisdom, if we ask
Hebrews 4:9 He will give us rest
Psalm 34:18 He will draw near to us when we are broken-hearted and save us
Hebrews 4:16 He will be merciful and help in times of need
This is why so many passages address meditating on fearful and anxious thoughts: Christians cannot rationally be this type of anxious, at least not without doubting God. Choosing to be a follower of Christ is saying “God, I trust you for eternity”, but choosing to be anxious is saying “God, I trust you with everything, except Thursday”. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
“Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”
Does worrying add anything to your life? Jesus and the crowd both know this answer, but it is really hard to admit. Worrying is useless. Worrying about having money or being single does not fix the problem of not having money to pay rent or being single. Jesus wants us to agree that there is no benefit from this anxiety. Worry can affect your entire body; it is called a disease for a reason.
“For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Anxiety really boils down to this: we seek control over what is going to happen. There is some potential outcome in the future that we want to avoid, so we spend all our brain power thinking about it. The phrase “I struggle with control” is something I’ve heard a few times, and probably used myself. There is a problem with this statement, though. We cannot struggle with something we have never had. For instance, I don’t struggle with shapeshifting or teleportation because I’ve never had the ability to do either. We don’t struggle with control (of people, outcomes, or events) because we have never had control. You control your own physical and mental actions, and that is it. But you do not go around worrying that your arm is going to fly off your body or that your mind is randomly going to stop letting you think about breakfast and instead start computing NASA’s next launch coordinates, because you never have to worry about control. It is something you either have or you don’t, and no amount of worry will change the control you have. Only God has control, so worry does nothing to add control to yourself or to Him. Jesus says to seek first His kingdom, the church. Jesus is NOT saying “don’t worry, go on a mission trip or pray or do something.” He is saying place God’s kingdom, His church, above your own kingdom. Our worries are only about our wants and wishes and desires, but we never worry about God’s outcomes. I personally do not lay awake at night worrying about God’s kingdom and will, thinking of “what ifs” about His agenda not working and His will not being done. We don’t have to worry about His kingdom because He has control over it. We worry about our own because we have no control. In the middle of talking about worry, Jesus says to put away our own kingdom and seek His first instead. Seek Him. Dwell on the ministries of the church, the salvation of God, and the righteousness that we are to mirror. Only then, when we prioritize God’s agenda even when it may contradict our own desires, will we experience peace. This is when, in this vicious cycle of intrusive thoughts about tomorrow, we can have a peace that we cannot fully comprehend. Worry is ultimately about me not getting what I want in some future outcome. The sad but funny part about worry is that it shows me a life of possibilities where plans do not always go the way I want them to; interestingly enough, life does not always go my way, whether or not I spend time worrying if it will. Having everything be according to my kingdom is impossible, but peace IS possible. We can either go through life not getting everything we wish for and have anxiety throughout; or, we can go through life not getting everything we wish for and be at peace (as Paul would say, content in whatsoever state I am; Philippians 4:11). Both ways, we do not get everything we want. Both ways, God’s kingdom will prevail under His control. Our choice: “God, Your will before mine” or “be anxious”. The trust we have in God comes in when we face a situation in which one outcome is going to hurt or not be what we wanted; we then pray, “I ask for this. But, if that is not Your will, I trust you.” We can only have peace that “passes all understanding” if we do not understand every time that we experience peace. It may not be our desire, but even without knowing why plans changed or things went a different way, we can have peace through our trust in Him.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Jesus knows our concerns. He also knows that it will take lots of time for us to train our minds not to worry about every little or big thing that is currently weighing us down. He tells us the first step to not worrying: take one day at a time. There are enough problems today. Trust is a daily choice. This choice does not mean all the individual flurries of worry will go away, but that they never have to be constant, they never have to consume you. Instead, we can be consumed by peace.
The only life where we should be anxious is the one in which we have never trusted in Him. That life is forever without peace. That eternity is forever without peace. But a life trusting in Jesus, that life is the one where we can hear and obey “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:6-8)
The passage from Matthew 6 is a "therefore". It is based on something Jesus said right before. Prior, He says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24)
You cannot serve your own kingdom AND His. Which will you choose: trust or anxiety?
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