Worry Warts Series

Anxiety is no joke. Maybe that’s why there are so many jokes about it. Take the old Peanuts cartoon that shows Linus coming up to Charlie Brown, dragging his blan-ket as he observes, “You look kinda depressed.” “I worry about school a lot,” Charlie replies. Then he adds, “I worry about my worrying so much about school.” As they sit on a log together, Charlie makes his final observation: “My anxieties have anxieties!” Of course, Linus is hardly one to criticize... he takes his security blanket with him wherever he goes.

What keeps you awake at night? What unresolved disagreements, nagging prob-lems, concerns about health, finances, relationships? If worry and anxiety are not part of your life, you’re in the minority. A brief internet search will give you over a dozen causes of anxiety, from performances and parties to politics and parenting. Nearly 60% of Americans were prescribed antidepressants in 2022. And it’s only getting worse; the number has increased by 35% in the last 6 years. Now, mind you, depression and anxiety are real, and medication is often not only appropriate but necessary. But a lot of Americans do seem to believe they have a right to a stress-free existence, and think the bumps on the road of life are symptoms of failure. Or oppression, or conspiracy, or the other political party.

We Americans are hardly the only people to experience stress and anxiety. Imagine what it must be like to live in a country where war is right on your doorstep, like Ukraine or Syria or Congo. Of course, stark terror is somewhat different from garden-variety anxiety. It's one thing to worry about what you will have for dinner; it's another to wonder if you're going to have dinner at all. But even we who live in peace and plenty can always find something to worry about. If our needs are secure, we start worrying about our wants.

People in Jesus’ day were just as anxious as we are, if not more so. The men and women standing on that mountainside listening to Jesus’ sermon had to deal with providing for their families, pleasing their employers, raising their children, paying their taxes, and saving for the future just like we do. They also had a foreign army occupying their country, and nobody had health insurance.

Jesus knew all about what they were up against. And yet he told them, flatly, “do not be anxious.” That’s a pretty tall order. How can he expect us not to be anxious, considering all the things we have to stay on top of? And yet he does, just as Jesus ex-pects us to take everything he said seriously.

But he has reasons. Good ones.

The first reason not to worry is that there is more to life than things. People were anxious first of all over food, clothing, and housing - that is, the basics. And yet as important as these things are, other things matter more in the long run. And besides - reason number two - worrying doesn’t help. It doesn’t add a single second to your lifespan. In fact, although Jesus didn’t say so, we all know that anxiety can actually make you more vulnerable to stress-related illnesses. That’s another reason not to worry - worry can be hazardous to your health!

How many people do you know who measure their life in terms of their possessions? How many people find their self-worth or security in their home or their car or their investments? All of those things are deceptive. They look solid, they look permanent, but nothing is as temporary as things.

We need things. Don’t get me wrong. We are economic beings who need food and clothing and shelter and college tuition. But they are not the most important things. Possessions are seductive, they can cling to us like Velcro. But don't let them. Don’t let your things own you.

The third reason not to be anxious is that our Father is a good provider. Jesus used birds and flowers to illustrate how God feeds and clothes his own. Mind you, sometimes there IS a worm shortage, and if a lily gets in the way of a tractor it’s “good-bye, lily.” That’s not the point. The point is that God is in charge of the commissary, and getting in his way and trying to take over the kitchen is not going to improve our condition in the least.

If we are going to be free of worry about things, we have to believe that God really does love us, and really will take care of us. An awful lot of people, even Christians, aren’t convinced of this. You’ll hear many of them quote “God helps those who help themselves” as if it were actually in the Bible - which it isn’t. It’s from Aesop’s Fables. And of course we aren’t called to lie back and wait for the check to arrive. We have work to do, work that God has called us to do. But that work isn’t making sure our own needs are being met. That’s God’s job. Our part is to do “good work with [our] own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.” [Eph 4:28] And if you really believe that God is in charge, and that He loves you and will meet your needs, then you can live in faith rather than in fear.