How to Have Less Stress
Jesus Christ was a person who was constantly under pressure. Because of His popularity – people always wanted to be around Him. He had to seek out times for personal privacy. Other people repeatedly misunderstood Him – criticized Him – ridiculed Him. He had an enormous amount of stress in His life.
Most of us would cave in under such pressure. But as we look at the life of Jesus we quickly discover that He remained at peace under pressure. He was never in a hurry. He was always at ease. He had a calmness about His life that enabled Him to handle enormous amounts of stress. How did He do this so successfully?
He based His life on sound stress management principles. Perhaps if we understand and apply these principles to our lives, we’ll experience less pressure and more peace of mind. What are those principles – well let’s look at them. The first principle is:
1. IDENTIFICATION
Jesus said,
"I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." John 8:12 (NASB)
He also said,
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” John 14:6 (NASB)
Jesus knew who He was! Here is the first principle for handling stress in your life – it is:
Identification - Know Who You Are.
This is critically important in stress management because if you don’t know who you are – you will let other people pressure you into being somebody you’re not.
A lot of stress in life comes from wearing masks. We try to be somebody we’re not. People have expectations of us and we try to live up to others expectations rather than being what God intended us to be. We live double lives. We live under constant pressure.
But what we need to figure out is who we are in God’s sight. That is the first step to balance stress.
Folks here is a fact – I am a child of God. I am not an accident. I was put on earth for a purpose. I am deeply loved by God. I am completely accepted by God. He has a plan for my life and He says I am valuable – that I am significant. This fact has helped me cope with a lot of stress in my life. But folks let me tell you this too – because God put you here – you are significant too. The Bible says:
“You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION” 1 Peter 2:9
If you are a child of God – who you are significant because of whose you are.
The second principle of stress management is:
2. DIRECTION
Jesus said,
"I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
John 5:30b (NASB)
Jesus knew who He was trying to please. It was His father. The second principle is:
Direction – Know who you want to please.
You can’t please everybody so you might as well try to please the most important person – God.
Jesus knew who He was trying to please – it was a settled issue for Him: He said, “I’m going to please my Father.” And the Father replied, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matt. 3:17 (KJV)
The Bible says:
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matt. 6:33 (NASB)
The Bible in Basic English says it this way:
“Let your first care be for his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these other things will be given to you in addition.” Matt. 6:33 (BBE)
This is a great promise. It means that if I focus on one thing and one thing only – pleasing God – it will simplify my life. If my main goal is to please God – He will take care of me. If my main goal is to please God – I will always be doing the right thing. If my main goal is to please God – I shouldn’t worry about what anybody else thinks or says about me. It is God and God alone that I am dedicated to and He will take care of me. That fact relieves a lot of stress in my life.
The third principle of stress management is:
3. DESTINATION
Jesus said,
“My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going.” John 8:14 (NASB)
Jesus knew where He was from and where He was going. He knew what He wanted to accomplish in His life. The principle is this:
Destination – Know what you want to accomplish.
Unless you know where you are going – how will you know if you ever get there? Plan your life – set your priorities – pursue your goals. If you know what you want to accomplish it will help relieve a lot of pressure in your life.
Every day you either live your life by priorities or you live your life by pressures. There is no other option. You either decide what is important in your life or else you let other people tell you what is most important in your life. You need to set priorities or you will live by pressures.
It’s easy to operate under business – but do you really get anything done? Have you really accomplished anything? If you set a goal then you can evaluate your steps toward that goal. You can determine if you are headed toward that goal or moving away from it.
Someone said, “It seems to be a crazy habit of man that when he loses his way he doubles his speed” It’s like an Air Force pilot in World War II who flew out over the Pacific. When he radioed in, the controller asked, “Where are you?” The pilot replied, “I don’t know, but I’m making record time!” A lot of people are like that: they are speeding through life but they don’t know where they are headed.
Principle number four is:
4. CONCENTRATION
Some people tried to get Jesus detoured from His planned schedule. Some people tried to distract Him from His goal in life. Look at the story we find in the Bible:
When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." Luke 4:42-43 (NASB)
Principle number four for stress management is this:
Concentration – Focus on one thing at a time.
Jesus was a master at this. It seemed that everybody tried to interrupt Him. Everyone had a Plan B for Him. But Jesus always kept right on doing what He knew God had told Him to do. What was He called to do? I believe this verse tells us:
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10 (NASB)
He was determined. He was persistent. He concentrated His efforts.
Have you ever been in a situation where there seems to be too much to do? You seemed overwhelmed. I’ve been there. Do you want to know how I’ve got through it? Here is what I did – I started doing one thing at a time. I would do this task and complete it. Then I would move on to the next task – one task at a time. Someone has said, “Inch by inch life’s a synch – yard by yard life is hard. When I focus on one task at a time – I can get through.
When we concentrate our efforts – we are more effective. Light diffused produces a hazy glow, but light concentrated light can produce a fire. When you use a magnifying glass to concentrate light on a dry leaf – you can catch that leaf on fire.
Jesus Christ did not let interruptions prevent Him from concentrating on His goal. He did not allow other people to make Him tense or stressed or irritated. He concentrated on the task at hand.
Principle number five is:
5. MEDITATION
The Bible tells us:
“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” Mark 1:35 (NASB)
Jesus often got up early in the morning and went and prayed. He often sought out a time to pray. The fifth principle of stress management is:
Meditation – Make a habit of personal prayer.
Prayer is a gigantic stress-reliever. It is a God-given tool for letting off your anxieties. No matter how busy Jesus got – He made it a practice to spend time alone with God. If Jesus made time for prayer when He was busy – how much more do you and I need prayer! A quiet time, getting alone with God, can be a decompression chamber for life’s stress. We talk with God in prayer – tell Him what’s on our mind – and listen to what He has to say to us. Listen to what the Bible says:
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (KJV)
Many of our problems come from our inability to sit still. We just don’t know how to be quiet. Most of us don’t like to “be still”. We want to be on the move.
I like the way the Message Bible puts it:
"Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything." Psalm 46:10 (MSG)
Sometimes it’s hard to step out of the “traffic” – out of the “rat race” – we want to win the race. But we need to start our morning with prayer. Jesus did. Then periodically though-out the day we need to stop and pray again. This will help us to recharge our spiritual batteries. Keeping connected to God is vital for stress management.
The sixth principle is:
6. RELAXATION
Look at what Jesus said to His disciples:
"Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) Mark 6:31 (NASB)
They were busy. People were coming and going. The crowds were getting bigger. Notice that Jesus didn’t say to them, “Pick up the pace. Work harder we have got to keep up.” No He said, “Come away and rest for a while.”
Here is our sixth principle of stress management:
Relaxation – Take time to rest.
This is the principle of relaxation and recreation. Jesus looked at His disciples and said, “You need a break today. You need to get some rest. Let’s take some time off.” So they got in a boat, rowed to the other side of the lake, and went out to the desert to rest.
One reason why Jesus could handle stress is that He knew when to relax. He frequently went either to the mountains or the desert just to unwind – just to get away from it all.
Folks let me tell you – rest and recreation in life are not optional. In fact, rest is so important that God included it in the Ten Commandments. The Bible says:
“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD.” Exo. 31:15a (NASB)
The Sabbath was made for man because God knows that our physical, emotional and spiritual constitutions demand periodic breaks. Jesus survived stress because He knew how to rest. He knew how to get away from it all.
That brings us to our last principle of stress management. It is:
7. DEDICATION
Jesus said:
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Mat 11:28-30
The final principle of stress management is:
Dedication – Give your stress to Christ.
Notice in this passage of scripture that there are two action words: Come – Take.
If I want to relieve my stress I need to “come” to Him and look at what He says:
“I will give you rest.”
Christ did not say, “Come to Me and I will give you more guilt, more stress, and more worries,” Jesus said, “I will to give you rest. Folks that is a promise. He will give us rest if we come to Him. But also He says:
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me”
Then He goes on to tell us:
“For I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Folks all of us carry burdens around in life – some of them are heavy – some of them are awkward – some of them hurt. But He has promised us that if we come to Him – take His yoke – we will find rest for our souls. I don’t know about you – but that is something I need.
What do you need? Do you need rest for your soul? If you do – then dedicate your life to Christ. Come to Him – trust in Him – learn from Him.
(I want to thank Rick Warren for the sermon starter idea.)
