Anxiety

The world tends to fight worry with the “power of positive thinking.” Worldy wisdom says, “The things you’re so worried about probably won’t happen.” That might be true to a point, but it is not true enough. It’s really fighting worry with wishful thinking — and perhaps even with lies. Scripture gives us better weapons.

God calls us to be utter realists — not pessimists, but realists. We live in a fallen world in which many terrible things *do* happen, and we need to be prepared for them. So we must fight worry with truth, not with the fantasy of “positive thinking.” Biblical thinking is superior to postive thinking.

The Word of God does not say, “What you’re worried about probably won’t happen.” The Word of God says, “Even if the worst thing imaginable happens, God will not leave you or forsake you. God will be with you and he has a good purpose for you, even in the midst of pain and suffering.” Fight worry with godly wisdom, not worldly wisdom. Fight worry with truth, not fantasies or lies.

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“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?” (Matthew 6:26)

Fighting worry begins with knowing how much God cares about you, how much God loves you, how much God delights in you. Bird watchers delight in birds. God delights in birds too, but more than that, he is a “human watcher” and he delights in his children even more than in birds. If he cares for relatively insignificant birds, how much more does he care for creatures made in his own image?

Once you understand how important you are to God, you will know what should be most important to you. And most of the things we worry about are just not that important.

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A few notes on worry and anxiety:

1. There is such a thing as “good anxiety.” Or perhaps we should say that legitimate “concerns” should be distinguished from being “over-concerned.” We know this because Paul speaks of his “anxieties” for the churches in a positive way in 2 Cor. 11:28. One of his hardships as an apostle and church planter/pastor was his concern for the well-being of his churches. This was a godly concern, but there is no doubt that it gave Paul many sleepless nights. What kept his concerns/anxieties from being sin is that he kept turning his concerns into prayer requests (reflected in his letters). His anxieties fueled his prayer life, as he translated “worries” into petitions. Another example of this might be Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Certainly, Jesus gives every sign of being anxious before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. But he does the very thing we must do with all such anxieties: he turns them into petitions before his Father. Legitimate concern is not a sin; what we do with that concern is what determines whether or not we are walking in righteousness or disobedience.

2. Pagans seek food, drink, and clothing. Christians seek the kingdom of God. (See Matthew 6:32-33 in their wider context). This is why pagans can never overcome their worry whereas Christians can. Pagans, in the end, cannot rise above living for the here and now, living for their own comfort and security. Christians can endure suffering and deprivation without worry precisely because we know that life does not consist in maintaining food and clothing, but in bringing glory to God, whether we live or die. And Christians can live this way because we know God will repay all our sacrifices with a glory that is far better than food or drink or any other comforts our faithfulness to Christ costs us.

3. In Philippians 4:5, Paul says that our gentleness (or reasonableness) should be evident to all. This is connected to the exhortations in 4:6. Anxious people cannot be gentle. They are under too much pressure, they try to control things (including other people), and they are easily angered/frustrated because they are so afraid of not getting their way. Their lack of gentleness arises from their insecurity and fear. We’ve all seen people who get snappy or harsh or irritable towards others when they are stressed; perhaps we’ve done it ourselves. When we cast our cares upon God in prayer, we can be gentle towards people because we know our own destiny is safe and secure in the hands of God. Worry interferes with our ability and capacity for love. When we deal with our worry the right way, we are freed to love others. We can keep our poise in tense and difficult situations. We can be gentle. Treating others harshly is due to a failure of nerve. Treating others gently arises from knowing and resting in God’s sovereignty and giving him thanks.

Anxiety tends to spread like a social contagion. It’s a spiritual virus that can spread from one person to a whole community. One anxious person can cause anxiety to ripple through a whole series of relationships. An anxious, unreasonable, harsh person tends to form a culture around himself that mirrors his own outlook. But that contagion can be stopped with the remedy of joy and thanksgiving (both are mentioned in Philippians 4:4-6). We can choose to lead the way in replacing anxiety with joy through prayer. In this way, a community can get “infected” with the peace that passes understanding; we can turn peace and poise into a positive social contagion that spreads out to others and thus we can form a different kind of culture in our community.