Discussion
- Raise your hand if you never feel anxious or fear?
- On a scale of 1-10 how anxious of a person do you consider yourself to be? Is there a particular thing that you tend to get anxious about more than others? (finances, relationships, time, health, etc). Please share your life experience when you feel anxious about something.
- How do you usually cope with your anxiety? Are there particular methods that you have found that help you more? or maybe what would you advise other people with similar situation as you?
What Bible says about anxiety?
Fear and anxiety is not inline with God’s good and right design.
Gen 1:28-31 - Here we got man and woman, naked and unashamed so in innocence and and in honour living as God’s ambassador living in this world that God created. They have not just innocence and honour but also peace and prosperity. There is no such thing as Adam got an accident one day because climbing up a tree, fall down and die; or they quarrel to each other and has resentment to each other.
Gen 3:19 - imagine this, they have know nothing about death, and this is the first time God announce to them that to “dust you will return”. There is a different response here for those that is already living in a fallen world vs those that never tasted it before. For us that knows the condition of our world, death is probably a bit scary, but for those living in a time where death never exist before I think it is unspeakable moment, I think they are terrified. All that was peace and prosperous becomes fear and anxiety, and to this day fear and anxiety have robbed mankind from the delight in God where they should live in peace and prosperity (note: we are not talking about material prosperity here, rather a spiritual thing).
The world approach from the superficial thing
Now, here is the mistake how the world tries to fix “fear and anxiety” - Disclaimer, I’m not saying that they are totally wrong, but they are not fixing the root cause of the problem. I mean does taking anti depressant or exercise or having enough sleep is a wrong advise to battle stress and anxiety or mental health issue? NO, and in fact we need that as well to support our mental balance as well at times, but they are not fixing the root of the problem here. Fear and anxiety is not the end game, they are byproduct from the main issue.
Similar to how our innocence and honor (speaking to our dignity) and peace and prosperity is not the end of itself, rather they are the results (or overflow) of our right relationship with God - and so the absence of all this good thing (let’s say the absence of peace or honor) is because mankind has been cut off from right and intimate relationship with our God. Therefore what Bible is showing us here is not that we should after peace and prosperity primarily but rather to be redeemed and reconciled with our Heavenly Father from whom flows peace and honor and prosperity. So we see here, the Bible shows us that the end is God Himself, because God is our peace, God is our innocence, God is our righteousness, God is our dignity (we are created IN His image)
Now Let’s look at Matthew 6:25-34, here Jesus said that we should not be anxious, and He gave some reasons and a way for us to overcome our anxiety. So now let’s look at what Jesus is about to say regarding anxiety:
Anxiety happens because we messed up with our priority in life
25 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?
What Jesus is saying here is that for us to be careful at what value you give certain things because the more value you give to a specific thing, the more fear and anxiety will rule and reign around those things. When we are talking about anxiety, what what we really are talking is about who is the sovereign reigning rule of our life. When we make money too important, then anxiety will come when it touches our finance; When we make our image too important, then anxiety will come when it scratches our image; When we exalt our kids too much, then fear and anxiety over them will consume our lives and suck all of the joy out of our house.
The word “Therefore” in verse 25 above points back to verses 19-24, where Jesus told His disciples to store up treasures in heaven instead of on the earth; essentially Jesus told us to focus on eternal matters (like riches in heaven, instead of focusing on temporary matters like wealth).
“Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” this does not talk about survival, but about the life itself. So the question is again, did we mis-placed our priority? in fact, that is idolatry, and therefore anxiety is the byproduct of it.
Our Father cares for us
Jesus then gave us 2 illustrations to tell us how our Father cares for us by comparing our value with birds if the air, and lilies of the field.
26 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?
Unlike us, the birds (although they are active and working to find their food), they do not have a storage or refrigerator like we all did (mostly). They also not created in God’s image unlike us, which proves that we are of higher value, and yet God provides and cares for every details of them. Therefore surely God would take care of us.
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 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?
In the first century, people were making their daily bread which is why when Jesus taught His disciple, He said “give us today our daily bread” necessary to sustain life today. How did they bake the bread? They would pull off the grass of the field, and they would use that grass and flowers and throw them to fuel the oven. So these lilies were alive one day and die another day, and yet God cares for every details of it, God is sovereign and even in every processes of flowers blooming and grass gaining its color, or when it is the time they were thrown into the oven, nothing happens apart from God meant it to happen.
We realise that anxiety tell us that we are not in control. No matter how much we want to control our life, at the end of the day we can only say to God - God, i’m not in control of my life, only you knows about my life and in control. With anxiety, it tells us and brings us back to surrender our life to God.
Anxiety ultimately is saying that we don’t trust that God is good. We don’t trust God is good therefore we start worrying, we don’t trust God is good therefore we prefer to seek temporal things more than God Himself.
So again what is it you seek? Pagans or Gentile unbelievers seek after temporal things -- food, drink, clothing. What's more, Jesus says, "your heavenly Father knows that you need them." They aren't bad things. But they can preoccupy our "seeking" so we do not have time, energy, or interest to seek the Source of those things -- God himself.
But remember, seeking God means seeking God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness. Do we have a heart for God’s people? do we love God’s righteousness in our life?
When we seek God, then “All these things will be given to you as well” (Mat 6:33b). Note that the sentence “All these things” does not refer to what the pagan seek, namely food, clothes and wealth, but it refers to everything that our “Father knows that you need them”. It refers to everything that we need, which first and foremost when we seek God, our life and mindset will be changed and that we realise that all we need is God and His kingdom. He will quench our spiritual thirst and our natural one as well (in other words we will find that God meets our temporal needs).
Live each day and surrender all your anxiety to God
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
I love how Jesus shows compassion by saying the words above: He knows that we can get anxious, God knows our struggle and that we often battling our unbelief - and when that happen Jesus said live for the day, for today has enough trouble.
A Hymn song titled “Because He lives” has refrain like this
"Because He lives I can face tomorrow; Because He lives all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living just because He lives."
God holds the future and so we can face tomorrow. When we are anxious Philippians 4:6-7 says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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.”
When we are anxious, don’t pretend to be strong, but pray to God, ask God for help to build your confidence, give thanks to God for He knows what’s best for you and that God is FOR you (remember the cross) - and the peace of God, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (remember of what He did).
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