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.
Then Jesus gives us reason number four not to be anxious. We can only live one day at a time. E. Stanley Jones said, “Worry is the interest we pay on tomorrow’s troubles.” He was right. Being anxious about tomorrow is living in the world of “what if.” What if this happens, or that happens? Well, what if it doesn't? You’ve wasted all that energy! And what if it does? Won’t you have plenty of time to deal with it then? Jesus said that “each day has enough trouble of its own.” Deal with today. Live in today. Do good work today, make the best decisions you can today. If today is good, enjoy it. If it’s not, it will pass. Let tomorrow take care of itself. After all, tomorrow never comes. By the time it gets here, it is today.
So what shall we do with all that energy, all that attention we’ve been investing in tomorrow’s troubles? Jesus has an answer for that, too. “Strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be given to you as well.” [Mt 6:33]
What Jesus is saying is, you do your job, and let God do his. Our job is, as Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians, not only to share our surplus with the needy, but primarily to “do the good works for which God has prepared to be our way of life when he created and redeemed us in Christ.” [Eph 2:10] Jesus makes it clear that our focus should be on building God’s kingdom and reflecting his righteousness.
Now - what does it mean, to strive for God’s kingdom, the sphere in which he rules? Another translation says “seek,” not “strive” but that’s a little misleading, because we’re not supposed to be searching for God’s kingdom, wondering where he’s hidden it this time. “Striving for God’s kingdom” means that we are to be at work on behalf of God’s kingdom. If God’s kingdom is in good shape, our little principalities will be just fine. And so we are to be involved in extending and expanding His influence. We are to speak God’s name into the silence and bring his light into the darkness and carry out his work among his creation. This, of course, requires first of all that he rules in our own lives.
Striving for God’s righteousness means to live out Christ’s life in us. Remember that we have no righteousness of our own. So we have to live in daily dependence on Jesus. As he told his disciples at the last supper, we have to “abide in him” in order to bear fruit. Abiding in Christ means thinking about him, studying the Bible so that the Jesus we follow is the real one, and not a figment of our own imaginations. It also means spending quality time with him, loving him with prayer and praise. In addition, it means evaluating our actions in the light of his example. And, finally, it means doing what he asks us to do. Our minds, our hearts, and our wills must all be involved.
Nothing is more important, or more real, or more certain than God. Do you really believe that? Most of us would say yes. But if we really believe that nothing is more important than God, why do so many of us live as though almost everything else is?
This passage illustrates one of the divine paradoxes in Scripture. Jesus told us that if we sought to save our lives we would lose them but if we gave them away - for his sake - we would find them.[Mt 16:25], It’s a paradox. This is the same truth, told in more practical terms. If we turn our attention away from our needs to God’s call, our needs will be met - often from a source we would never have expected. It’s the same principle. If we let go of all the stuff we cling to, that neither lasts nor satisfies, God will provide what we really need - and all we really need. As long as we believe that if we don’t take care of our concerns no one will, God will leave us alone to scratch around in the dirt. But as soon as we start taking him at his word, our lives start filling up with miracles.
And we have to remind ourselves every day, because whenever we let a worry take hold it’s like a tick burrowing under our skin. Worries grow and multiply, chewing holes in our relationship with God and weakening the foundations of our faith. A Chinese poet, I think Lin Yutang, said “I cannot prevent the bird of misfortune from flying over my head, but I can keep it from making its nest in my hair.” Worries are in the same category. They may cast an occasional shadow, but we don’t have to live with them. And the only sure cure for the worry virus is to trust God.
So what am I saying? That Christians shouldn’t be prudent, shouldn’t prepare for the future? Far from it! Look at the classic on careful planning from Proverbs 6.
Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways and be wise. Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food in summer and gathers its sustenance in harvest. How long will you lie there, O lazy-bones? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slum-ber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior. [Pr 6:6-11]
And Paul said, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” [Eph 5:15-17] Jesus never said “don’t plan for the future.” What he said was, “don’t worry about it.” There’s a difference. Remember it.
The good news is that trusting God with our future rather than worrying about it is good for us. Even secular scientists have discovered that Christians have a statistically significant lower incidence of depression. It’s not just a reporting error, either, with Christians being unwilling to acknowledge it. They can actually measure the chemical changes in the brain. Thanks be to God.
