A Word about Anxiety

Graeme Best
Good morning. Last week I began looking at the emotion of anxiety .. the problem of being over-anxious .. and I’d like to continue this week by giving you some further practical tips that can help us overcome anxiety in our lives.

There is much in this world to make us anxious; however being over-anxious is more often than not the result of wrong thinking on our part. It comes as a result of us not trusting God and his promises. Therefore our first port of call when it comes to anxiety, as I pointed out last week, must always be prayer.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
God offers us his peace in exchange for anxiety, through prayer.
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Prayer is the first and most practical way of handling anxiety. But this morning, let me suggest some other strategies we can adopt that can help us over-come anxiety in our lives.
Firstly, as part of our prayer to God, we need to cast our cares onto Jesus. 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your cares, all your anxiety and worry on God because he cares for you.” I love going fishing. I don’t get such an opportunity these days however over the years I have spent many, many wonderful hours throwing out my line seeking to catch a tasty fish.

We often talk about casting in terms of fishing. But what do we do when we cast out our fishing hook? We reel it back in! That’s not what Peter meant when he said cast your anxiety onto Jesus. No, he is encouraging us to cast, to throw and let go, all our cares onto Jesus .. because he does care for us and will take those cares and give us his peace.

It is a choice we have. An act of our will; of our minds. Concerns are natural. But again, if we harbour those concerns and let them grow into anxieties, we do ourselves a great disservice and are in fact sinning.
Jesus says, let me take them for you. Hand your problems over to me and trust me to handle things. We need to avail ourselves of all God’s resources. Stand on his word and his promises as we cast our cares on him in prayer.

The second piece of advice concerning anxiety: focus on today. Jesus said in Matthew 6: 31-34 “So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Isn’t that true! Every day has its own problems. This is good advice. Be concerned, yes, about the things of today, not anxious, just suitably concerned as you trust the day to the Lord. But don’t be panicking about tomorrow. Don’t think too much about what might happen in the future.

Think ahead, yes. Plan ahead. We need to do that. But don’t be anxious about the future. Trust God.

Truth is, we often struggle to have enough emotional capacity to deal with the issues of today, let alone tomorrow. God gives us grace sufficient to handle today. There’s a song we sometimes sing .. One day at a time, sweet Jesus. That’s all I’m asking of you. Strength to handle today.
We need to leave our tomorrows in God’s hand. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He’ll give us tomorrow’s grace and strength tomorrow.
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A third suggestion in handling anxiety is this – Keep things in perspective and don’t sweat about the small things in life.
Someone worked out that 80% of our life is all small stuff but we spend nearly 100% of our time thinking about it. We get worried and concerned about all the little uncertainties of life over which we have no control.
When John Calvin used to preach, one particular man used to get very anxious about the fact that he wore a hat while he preached. It really got to this man, so much so he would hardly hear what Calvin was preaching about.
One day he got up the courage and fronted John Calvin and asked him why he wore a hat while preaching to which Calvin replied, “It is cold in the cathedral and there are many pigeons!” Small stuff. Don’t sweat about small stuff. Concentrate your thoughts on what is important.
In Luke chapter 10 is the familiar story of Martha getting upset when guests including Jesus are in the house, and her sister Mary is not helping her with the preparations. Martha is anxious. And we can understand why. She had opened her home to Jesus and his disciples and there was work to be done. And she had been left with all the work. Too much work. She was under stress and so she became anxious.
It says she was distracted by the preparations. That happens to us doesn’t it? We get distracted by things that worry us as we take our focus off what is really important in life.
And what message comes across the screens of our minds at such times? What did Martha say to Jesus? “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?” Lord, don't you care? Isn’t that what we subconsciously say to God? Things aren’t going well for us and we think it, even if we don’t say it - Lord don’t you care? Of course he cares. The Bible says God cares for us and watches over us. Do you see what happens so easily? Wrong thinking! We think God doesn’t care for us when he does.

Martha had wrong thinking. But it was because Martha had lost perspective. Martha blamed her sister and even tried to tell Jesus what to do. But Jesus answered Martha this way. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

In this situation it was Mary who got it right. She wasn’t sweating about the small things of life. Not that the day to day things of life aren’t important. They are. But we need to remember. Keep things in perspective. Don’t sweat about the small things in life. If it’s not life-changing or life-threatening … is it really worth the worry?
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As I have said, anxiety has much to do with our wrong thinking. However, I am not saying that feelings aren’t important. They are - very important. Some people want to say get rid of all emotions. That is nonsense. They are given to us by God. They are necessary for our personality and our well-being.

I’m not talking about suppressing our feelings or pretending we don’t have feelings or pushing them away as though they don’t really matter. Feelings do matter.
However . feelings should not dictate how we respond to situations. Unfortunately the world often responds too much to our feelings. You’re feeling anxious? Then why don’t you just pop another pill? That’s far too common these days.

Wrong thinking. We need to deal with the core issue. Our thinking. We need to think in God’s terms and put our faith and trust in him - in his control over all situations.
I’m sure your place is just like ours. We get spider webs outside from time to time. And I sweep the spider webs down. But if that is all I do, then what happens? They are soon back again. I need to deal with the real issue. I need to kill the spiders.

Feelings need to be responded to, but our lives should never be governed on feelings. No, the word of God needs to govern our lives. It is fact, faith then feelings, not the other way around. It’s mind over mood. This is my final tip regarding handling anxiety. Pray, change your thinking... then allow your emotions to follow.

I know that sounds easy but it isn’t because our natural tendency will always be to worry and become anxious. However if we would but try to allow God to do his work in us, by his Spirit, and give us his peace, then worry and anxiety will not be running and ruining our lives.
Again, Paul wrote in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” If we are going to deal with this problem of anxiety then we need to let Jesus transform our minds in order that we are no longer controlled by our feelings.

One thing that helps is to focus on God and his power and not on the problems that we face. Corrie ten Boom lived through the hellish life of Nazi concentration camps, a place where hope was lost for most. She survived to tell her story of unfaltering faith and hope in God.
She saw the face of evil up close and personal, witnessing some of the most inhumane acts people can do to others. But when she came out of it all she said this. “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look to Christ, you’ll be at rest.”

The more we think about God and his word, the less we’ll think about our worries ... and that is right thinking.
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Can I encourage you this morning to turn from anxiety by casting your cares onto God through prayer, and each day focusing your mind on him and his promises and not on your feelings or the small things in life, so that you can enjoy the wonderful peace that God can bring.
However, I need to point out that to know the peace of God you have to have peace with God. What I have been talking about is a supernatural thing. It is not available outside a relationship with God through faith in his Son Jesus. God’s peace comes through trusting Jesus as your Saviour and Lord.

If you would like to know more about having a relationship with Jesus then please don’t hesitate to contact a local Christian church or the Religious Department here at 2CH, GPO Box 4290, Sydney 2001.

Thank you for listening. May the peace of God through his son Jesus be with you all.

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