Panic!
We know that we live in a world that is not completely safe. Since the first humans questioned God's Word in the Garden of Eden, fear has entered our minds. Fear for our safety; fear of death and what comes after, if anything; fear of tomorrow; fear of people; fear of relationships; fear of loneliness; fear of failure; and sometimes the fear of simply not knowing or understanding. Fear can sometimes even feel like a disease, flooding the brain with anxiety that can cause panic attacks, OCD, PTSD and social anxiety, to name a few. We may even experience fear and anxiety for no apparent logical reason. It's like we were born afraid.
We wish we could simply turn off our anxious thoughts, but, more often than not, a simple "Don't worry about it" isn't going to instantaneously solve all our troubles. What are our fears telling us about ourselves? We don't like to analyze, but getting to the dark root of our fears is of the utmost importance. Fear either says "I am in danger"; "I am weak"; "I need (and I might not get)"; "That is valuable to me", or, perhaps the worst, "I could die". And perhaps your worries are saying "If I imagine the worst, I will be more prepared for it." To worry is to seek control.
So what causes this terror in us? Our hearts and minds lie at the center of it. Examine your fears and you will find that they are closely linked with that which is most important to you or that you value the most. Since God created and knows our hearts and minds best, let's look at what His Word says about them in Matthew 6. Now just to give a bit of context, this Bible passage comes from Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. He is explaining to his disciples what it means to belong to God's kingdom; what is important in this Kingdom and what we shouldn't be concerned about.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 KJV
Likewise, where your treasure is, there your fear will be also. If what is most important to us is earthly possessions, we will constantly be fearful of losing them. If we value approval or acceptance above anything else, we will constantly live in fear of rejection. If being successful and popular is what's most important to us, we will always be anxious about not being good enough. And we never will be. These things might give us temporary smiles, but they will never complete or satisfy us. The more we have, the more we'll worry, the more empty and unhappy we'll feel.
The Bible says that it is better for us to store up treasures in heaven. Before we get to what these treasures are, we need to understand that heaven refers to the Kingdom of God. The place where God rules and we enjoy all of His blessings forever. And we can already enjoy part of this on earth if we belong to Jesus, and have accepted Him as our Savior King.
Jesus said that, in order for us to worry less, we need to re-order our priorities - in other words, the things that are most important to us. Let’s see what He said a bit further in the same passage in Matthew:
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:25-34 KJV
Do you notice anything interesting about the things that Jesus tells his disciples not to be worried about? They're all basic needs - food, drink, clothing. Nothing extravagant or over the top. So, Jesus is saying that we shouldn't even be worried about our basic needs. Why? He tells us to look at how He cares for nature. Look at the birds! Look at the flowers! Look at how He cares for them! And we are much more important to God than they are - so will He not also care for our needs even more? He will and He does. Moreover, He even cares about the desires we have that aren't really basic needs.
So how do we worry less? We need to cease control - trust God and seek His Kingdom and righteousness. This should be the most important thing to us. Jesus says that once this takes priority, everything else will fall into place. But this is easier said than done.
For one, how do we trust God if we don't know Him very well? We might then assume that he is like ourselves - impatient, indifferent, incapable of multitasking, lazy, prone to taking time off for naps, the list goes on. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be able to trust a god like that.
Fortunately, the God of the Bible is not like that at all. When we read our Bibles, we find God's true character, and we are able to know Him well and trust Him well. The Scriptures describe Him as the perfect Father who cares for us and knows what is best for us, even more than our earthly dads. He loved us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins on the cross, so that we may enjoy God's rest forever, and glorify Him with our lives. As we then listen and come to know God, we find peace for our weary and anxious souls:
He gives us grace for today.
He delivers us.
1) Make a list of all the things that are most important to you or that you spend most of your time and energy on.
2) How can you re-prioritize your life so that Jesus and His Kingdom is what's most important to you?
3) How will that change the fears you have?
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” 1 John 1:1-4 KJV
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:5-10 KJV
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 KJV
“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 KJV
“But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 KJV
“Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 KJV
“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 KJV
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 KJV
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."