When You Feel Anxious…
Where do you turn for assurance and peace of mind when you feel anxious? There’s no shame in feeling anxious. It happens to everyone. But how do we battle it? how do we get relief from it? This is not simply a recent issue. Jesus taught about anxiousness in his famous Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew 2000 years ago. He said:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” [Matthew 6:25-34]
Given that Jesus taught this so long ago can we be sure that what he meant by the word “anxious” or “worry” is what we mean by it? Jesus is probably not talking about what I would call chronic anxiety. Today, due to the foods we eat and don’t eat, due to our lack of sleep, lack of vitamin D, lack of live person to person interactions, exposure to too much information and too much stress too (often with no power to do anything about it), and sometimes due to internal physiological imbalances – we as a society are facing rising levels of chronic anxiety and panic attacks. We need to keep in mind that Jesus was not speaking to people who were living with these same physical and societal factors & circumstances.
However, Jesus was speaking to people with the same kind of hearts we have. The disciples’ hearts and our hearts were and are 1) impacted by sin and living in a fallen world; and 2) their hearts and our hearts only gradually learn to understand who God is and all he promises to be for us according to his word. That describes everybody! So, Jesus was talking about the kind of
In other words, if you find yourself worrying about things like whether you’re going to pass a test or how to pay the bills or how to save for retirement or what kind of financial or medical emergencies lurk around the corner, then you understand what kind of anxiety Jesus is addressing here. But if you suffer from a kind of chronic anxiety and frequent panic attacks that you can’t explain, there may be more going on inside of you physically, mentally, emotionally, that needs to be addressed.
What I don’t want to do is “spiritually bypass” a serious struggle you might be experiencing. So I would suggest that everyone who loves Jesus and wants to live a full life in his abundant love should begin with what Jesus says here. Jesus desires to leads us from anxiety and worry to a full joyful life of faith in God’s Kingdom. But if inexplicable debilitating or paralyzing anxiety and panic attacks are a regular feature of your day-to-day life, then I would recommend you also talk more to your pastor about it and then possibly consider connecting with a good Christian counselor who can lead you through some focused work on how to apply what Jesus says here specifically to your story.
Look - Consider - Seek
Let’s start with the true and transformative words of Jesus. When we get anxious Jesus calls us to “look, Consider, and Seek.” First, “Look”: look at the birds. Jesus directs his disciples to observe the world around them and how it works. Jesus calls us to look up and notice how the world has been working from the beginning of time. “Look,” Jesus says, and see how God has provided everything the birds need to eat and drink. There are no bird-farmers. We don’t see birds planting seeds, watering them, or waiting for harvest to come. They don’t have to stockpile and fill basements, attics, garages, or storage units to make sure they have what they need for retirement. They just find what they need as God provides it. Now, Jesus says, think about how God does this for the birds, which aren’t nearly as valuable as you are. Aren’t you more precious to God than they are? Won’t God take care of you too?
Did you notice how Jesus refers to God in the passage above. Who is God, really? Jesus consistently calls him “Your Heavenly Father.” In fact, this is the preferred title Jesus uses for God throughout the Sermon on the Mount: your Father. If you are a believer and follower of Jesus, then God is your heavenly Father. You are his child. He loves you. He wants you to live life abundantly; not necessarily wealthy, or spoiled, or entitled – just satisfied, content, at peace, and joyful. Your Heavenly Father wants for you to live a full life in his Kingdom as his child – as a loved one of the One who created everything, owns everything, provides even for the birds.
“A beloved child of your loving Heavenly Father” does that describe you? Jesus is inviting us to consider this relationship when he calls us to abandon anxiousness. Because what we get anxious about reveals the reality of our relationship with him. Do you believe that your Heavenly Father desires you to be full of joy, full of peace? That He longs to take care of you, and does take care of you? He provides, he guides, he loves you. Do you believe that?
Then Jesus invites us to think clearly and consistently with who God is when he asks: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Think about it, by worrying about your life, are you able to extend your life at all? Isn’t your life in God’s hands? Actually, health studies show convincingly that stress, anxiety, and worry actually shorten life expectancy (fact check me on that!). In other words worry literally kills. But Jesus calls us to life.
Next, Jesus calls his disciples to look & “Consider.” Consider this: Isn’t our Heavenly Father even providing for the short-lived grass and flowers? Back in the late 1990’s we lived in Jordan for a year after seminary. Jordan is very arid and right next door to where Jesus lived. During the winter the dry ground of the desert was watered by rain for several months. Then in the spring the grass and wildflowers sprouted up, what seemed like overnight. The wildflowers were beautiful. They displayed God’s creative artistry. Christie loved to pick bouquets of them. But, very soon it would get really hot and all the grass and flowers would dry up and be gone just as quickly as they had appeared. Jesus is saying: if God so beautifully dresses the fields with flowers, that are so short lived, what is he doing for his own children as he prepares them for life in an eternal kingdom? Isn’t our Heavenly Father working all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to his purpose? (Romans 8:28) Yes, he is!
So, what we worry about also reveals our faith. Faith according to this passage is about observing, discovering, and trusting more and more that God is your Heavenly Father and loves you and takes care of you. Faith is answering the question in your heart and mind: What kind of God is God? Can He be trusted? Faith learns to trust our Heavenly Father to take care of us in real situations of difficulty, trial, and need. Faith rests in our Heavenly Father’s promise to provide. What we worry about points to what we put our faith in.
So what we worry about also reveals potential idols of our hearts. Jesus says “don’t be anxious” about the basic necessities of life for two reasons: the first reason is because the “Gentiles seek after all these things.” By “Gentiles” Jesus seems to be referring to people who do not have God as their Heavenly Father – people outside the kingdom of God. People who seek “all these things.” Food, drink, clothing. People who make good things that we all need more important than God himself, turning these things into idols.
We can ask the question this way: Do we trust in our Heavenly Father to provide what we need, or do we seek after the things we need to make us happy? Could our constant worry about all these things reveal that we are seeking after stuff instead of God? It can. Not always. But it seems to be Jesus’ concern here. So we want to examine ourselves and make sure we are not worshipping the stuff we need instead of God.
Jesus isn’t saying that all worry and anxiety is sin and idolatry. Jesus is saying: when you find yourself getting anxious about the stuff you need, then turn to him. Turn to your Heavenly Father. Love the things God loves. And learn to trust that God will take care of the things you need. When you do you will show that you are living in God’s kingdom and not like those who are outside of God’s kingdom.
This takes time. You have to walk with God and experience times of need and trials, turn to him and watch him take care of you. It’s not sinful to be a learner. But if, when you worry, you refuse to turn to your Heavenly Father and instead keep seeking the stuff, well, that reveals sin. It reveals a heart that is bent on seeking after stuff for happiness and turning basic needs into idols. If that is you, Jesus calls you to confess your love and dependency on anything that is not Your Heavenly Father and turn to Him instead for peace, security, and happiness.
The second reason Jesus gives for not being anxious is the basis for the first: you can trust and turn to your Heavenly Father because He already knows what you truly need. Sometimes God’s sovereignty – the fact that he knows everything and has everything in his control – can lead us to asking questions that aren’t helpful. “Lord, if you know everything, and you are in control of everything, then why are you letting this happen to me? Why are you waiting so long to answer my prayer?”
Do we believe that God knows what he’s doing? Do we believe God is a good Father and knows exactly what we need and when we need it? And if it seems like he’s late – he’s not. He knows what our hearts need most and just when we need it. God loves us in a way that will make us more like him. He is preparing our hearts for an eternity with him in the Kingdom he is building. If life isn’t going the way you want it to – it may be that God is shaping you into the kind of person who thrives in His kingdom and resembles his righteousness more and more.
Seek. And that is what Jesus says next. Jesus says do not simply trust your Heavenly Father for these specific basic needs, but trust Him about tomorrow in general. How? Jesus gives us a 3rd positive instruction: Seek. Don’t be anxious about the future, but seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness.
How do you do that? What is God’s Kingdom? God’s Kingdom is an already, now, and not yet kind of thing. God’s Kingdom has already come in the person of Jesus. God’s Kingdom is now wherever we see God’s rule and reign being built and advanced as people come to faith in Jesus. And God’s kingdom has yet to be revealed fully in the second coming of Jesus. Do you seek that in your own life and in the lives of others?
“Jesus is never anxious and never worries.”
God’s righteousness is his heart of holiness, his perfection, and purity with regard to his commands. Jesus reveals all these commands in the Sermon on the Mount and calls us to keep them at the heart level because these things reveal God’s righteous heart. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus calls us to “be perfect because your heavenly Father is perfect.” This shows us that Jesus alone leads us to our Heavenly Father’s heart: because Jesus is the only perfect Son of the Heavenly Father.
Jesus is never anxious and never worries. When he was on earth he didn’t worry about what he was going to eat, or drink, or wear. Jesus didn’t worry about tomorrow. Jesus walked in confidence in God’s plan, God’s timing. He even trusted in his Heavenly Father’s love as he went to the cross! So, if you, by faith, are in Jesus, God your perfect Heavenly Father looks upon you as his perfect child in Jesus. Are you found in Jesus? Is God’s righteousness at work in you as you put your faith in Jesus?
Let’s put it all together. You seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness when you are aiming your heart, your choices, and your resources at advancing God’s Kingdom by growing your faith and other people’s faith in Christ and becoming more and more like him – aligning your heart more and more to resemble God’s righteous heart.
Jesus says, when we are doing that, we can trust God to provide what we need along the way. Jesus is calling us to Seek to align our hearts with our Heavenly Father’s heart, to advance what God loves in this world, then rest in His care and watch Him take care of the rest. And by saying this, Jesus is not suggesting that if we seek God’s Kingdom and his righteousness that we will magically have no more troubles. Notice the last part: “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” There will be daily troubles in this life. But the challenge is: will we add to today’s troubles by worrying about tomorrow’s troubles too – or will we turn daily to our Heavenly Father with those troubles and let him carry us through them and provide our needs?
Jesus says to us: Whenever you feel anxious look, consider, and seek. Look: observe and remember how your Heavenly Father has taken care of you. Consider: Consider how your Heavenly Father values you as his own child providing and caring in big and small ways. And Seek: Seek to align your heart with God’s heart, to advance what God loves, then rest in your Heavenly Father’s care and watch Him take care of the rest.
