A threat to our life "ANXIETY"
Anxiety is the evil of this century. Reach men and women, young and old, doctors and illiterates, religious and atheists. People walk with nerves to the flower of the skin. They are like a volcano about to erupt. They are like a powder keg ready to explode.
There are several causes of anxiety:
to. Threat - Many people are anxious about the threat of an illness. They are anxious only to think about getting sick. Others are afraid of dying. They are disturbed only in thinking about dying. A friend of mine was crying a lot and I asked him: Why are you crying? Am I afraid of losing my mother? She's sick? No, but I cry only to think that one day he will die. Others feel threatened by the fear of loneliness. Others feel insecure about losing their jobs.
b. Fear - Fear is more than a feeling, it is a spirit (2 Tim 1: 7). Fear of not getting married, fear of getting married and fear of divorce; fear of life and fear of death; the fear of loneliness and fear of the crowd; fear of today and fear of tomorrow; the fear of the known and the fear of the unknown.
There are several effects of anxiety:
to. Physical Reactions - More than 50% of diseases are psychosomatic. People are looking for a chemical peace. We live today the empire of painkillers. People sleep an artificial dream. The Bible says that "the calm spirit is the life of the body" (Pv 14:30).
b. Spiritual Reactions - Anxiety takes us away from God. Where anxiety begins, faith ends. Anxiety is the uterus where disbelief is born.
WHAT IS NOT ANXIETY?
It is not to despise the needs of the body - Jesus taught us to pray: "Our daily bread gives us today". But, the world is adopting a reductionist concept, degrading man to the level of animals. It seems that physical well-being is the only objective of life.
It is not to prohibit foresight in the future. The Bible approves the anticipatory work of the ant. Also the birds make provision for the future, building nests and feeding the puppies. Many migrate to warmer climates before winter. What Jesus forbids is not foresight, but anxious worry. The apostle Paul advises: "Do not walk anxious about anything ..." (Fp 4: 6-7). The apostle Peter exhorts: "Throw all your anxiety upon him, for he cares for you" (1 Pet. 5: 7).
It is not to be exempt from gaining one's life - We can not expect the sustenance of God seated, with folded hands, lazily saying MY HEAVENLY FATHER WILL PROVIDE. We have to work. Christ used the example of birds and plants: both work. Birds seek the food that God provided in nature. Plants extract their sustenance from soil and sun.
It is not free from difficulties - Being free from anxiety and being free from difficulties is not the same. Although God sees the grass of the field, it does not prevent it from being cut and burned. Although God feeds us, he does not exempt us from afflictions and constraints, even financial ones.
Source
WHAT IS ANXIETY?
- Anxiety is destructive -
The word anxiety (v.28) means to RASG. The word restlessness (v.29) means CONSTANT SUSPENSE. These two words were used to describe a ship crisscrossed by strong winds and the overcast waves of a storm. The word anxiety comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word that means STRANGE. She pulls in the opposite direction. It generates an existential schizophrenia. Corrie Ten Boon said that anxiety does not empty the morning of her suffering, which empties her today of her power.
The anxiety is to be crucified between two thieves: 1) The thief of remorse in relation to the past and 2) The thief of worry in relation to the future - The apostle Paul overcame those two thieves of joy: "Forgetting the things that they stayed behind ... they are not anxious about anything ... "
- Anxiety is deceptive -
Anxiety has the power to create a problem that does not exist - Many times we suffer not because of a real problem, but a fictitious problem, generated by our own disturbed mind. The disciples looked at Jesus walking on the waters, coming to help them and full of fear they thought he was a ghost.
Anxiety has the power to increase problems and decrease our ability to solve them. An anxious person looks at a termite house and thinks he is facing an impassable mountain. The anxious people are like the spies of Israel, they only see giants of difficulties in front of him and they see themselves as locusts. David and the soldiers of Saul. Everyone sees the giant, David watches the victory. Geazi looked at the enemies and feared, Eliseo looked with different eyes.
Anxiety has the power to take our eyes off God and put them in the circumstances. Anxiety is an act of disbelief, lack of trust in God. Where anxiety begins, faith ends.
Anxiety has the power to remove our eyes from eternity and put them only in temporal things. An anxious person restricts life only to the body and physical needs. Jesus said that those who make provision only for the body and not for the soul are crazy.
John Rockefeller said that the poorest man is the one who only has money.
Anxiety is useless - v. 25
Coso here does not refer to the stature (45 cm), but prolong life, dilate life. The concern, according to Jesus, instead of prolonging life, may well shorten it. Anxiety kills us little by little. She steals our strength, kills our dreams, undermines our health, weakens our faith, takes away our trust in God and pushes us towards a less than Christian life.
Hospitals and burials are full of anxious people. Anxiety kills! The meaning of the word anxiety is to strangle, it is to pull in opposite directions. When we are anxious we fear to take the reins of our lives and take them out of the hands of God.
Anxiety leads us to lose the joy of today because of tomorrow's fear. People worry about exams, jobs, homes, health, dating, entrepreneurship, money, marriage, investments ... but fears and worries will often never happen. Anxiety is incompatible with common sense. It's a waste of time. We need to live one day at a time. We must plan for the future, but live anxiously for it.
Worrying about tomorrow does not help us tomorrow or today. If something steals our forces today, it means that we will be weaker tomorrow. It means that we will suffer unnecessarily if the problem does not happen and we will suffer twice if it arrives.
- Anxiety is blind - v. 2. 3
Anxiety is a false vision of life, of oneself and of God. Anxiety leads us to believe that life is made only of what we eat and dress. We are so concerned about the means that we forget the end of life, which is to glorify God.
Anxiety does not allow us to see the work of God's providence in creation. God feeds the birds of the sky. Crows do not sow, do not harvest, have no larder (provision for a week) or barn (provision for one year).
Let's look at some of Jesus' arguments against anxiety:
From the largest to the smallest. If God has given us a body with life and if our body is more than feeds him and the garments, he will give us food and clothing. 22-23 - God is responsible for our life and our body. If God cares for the greatest (our body), we can not trust him to take care of the child (our food and our clothes?)
From the smallest to the largest. Birds and flowers as an example - v. 24.27 - Martin Luther said that Jesus is making the birds to our teachers and teachers. The most fragile pardal becomes a theologian and preacher to the wisest of men, saying: I prefer to be in the Lord's kitchen. He did all the things. He knows my needs and supports me. The lilies dress with greater glory than Solomon. We see more than birds and lilies. If God feeds the birds and dresses the lilies of the field, will he not take care of his children? The problem is not the small power of God; the problem is our little faith (v.28).
- Anxiety is incredulous - v. 30
Anxiety makes us less than Christians. It is incompatible with the Christian faith. She resembles pagans. Anxiety is not Christian. She is generated in the belly of unbelief, she is sin.
When we are anxious about what to eat, what to wear and similar things we are living at a lower level than animals and plants. All nature depends on God and God never fails. Only men when they judge they depend on money worry and money always fails.
How can we encourage people to put their trust in God with respect to heaven, if we do not trust God or the things of the earth? An anxious believer is a contradiction. Anxiety is the opposite of faith. It is an incoherence to preach faith and live anxiety.
Peter Marshall says that ulcers should not become the emblem of our faith. But generally, they become.
Anxiety leads us to lose the Christian witness. Jesus is saying that anxiety is characteristic of Gentiles and pagans, of those who do not know God. But a child of God, has the conviction of the love of God and the care of God (Rm 8: 31-32).
HOW TO OVERCOME ANXIETY
- Know that God is our Father and he knows all our needs - v. 30
We overcome anxiety when we trust in God (v.28). Faith is the antidote for anxiety. God knows us. He loves us. He is our Father. He knows what we need. If we ask for bread, he will not give us a stone; If we ask for a fish, he will not give us a snake. In him we live and in him we exist. He is the God who created us. He is the God who keeps us alive. He protects us, frees us, keeps us, sustains us.
The apostle taught us to overcome anxiety by praying to God (Php 4: 6-7). Anxiety is a wrong thought and an incorrect feeling. When we look at life from God's perspective, our mind is guarded by the peace of God. When we feed our feelings with the truth that God knows our needs and supreme, then the peace of God guards our hearts.
Peace is a sentinel that keeps the citadel of our soul.
Know that our God is Jehovah Roi, Jehovah Jiri, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Shama, Jehovah Rafa, Jehovah Nissi. He takes care of us Example: George Muller and the orphanage sustained by faith.
- Know that God was already pleased to give us his Kingdom - v. 32
We must know that God has already given us more important things than material goods. God has given us everything. He gave us his Son. He gave us salvation. He gave us his kingdom. We are sheep of his flock, children of his family, servants of his Kingdom. If he already gave us the oldest, he would not give us the least. "He who spared not his own Son, will he not give us all things graciously with him?" (Rm 8:32)
God loved us with eternal love. He sent us his only begotten Son. He proved his love for us when he sent his Son to die in our place, to give us the Kingdom.
- Know that when we take care of the things of God, he takes care of our needs - v. 31
Here we have an order and a promise. The order is to seek the government of God, the will of God, the reign of God in our hearts in the first place. God and not us, must occupy the top of our agenda. The interests of God and not ours must occupy the mind and our heart. We are challenges to seek the government and the dominion of Christ in all areas of our life: marriage, home, family, professional life, leisure.
The promise is that when we take care of the things of God, he takes care of our needs. "All these things will be added to you." He makes extra time in favor of his children. He works in favor of those who trust in him.
- Know that we must change the course of our investments - v. 33-34
Our problem is not the pursuit of pleasure, but contentment with a very small pleasure. God must be our greatest pleasure. Nothing less than God and his Kingdom must occupy our mind and our heart. Our problem is not making investments, but making wrong investments. We are challenged to seek a wealth that does not perish. To gather treasures not on earth. To put our money, our goods, our life at the service of God and his Kingdom, instead of living anxiously collecting treasures for ourselves.
In the Kingdom of God you have what you give and you lose what you hold. In the Kingdom of God there are rich poor and poor rich people. The big question is where is our treasure. If he is in things, then we will make the wrong investment and live anxiously. But our treasure is in heaven, in the Kingdom of God, then, we will seek that Kingdom in the first place and live free of anxiety to rejoice in God and delight in him forever.
Peace be with you @ carolina17!
Anxiety and stress are the most common diseases of this modern era, clinics are full to solve this issue.
However, the Christian must trust in God and not despair when things do not work the way he expects
Peace to you @Carolina.
thanks for sharing this beautiful piece and awesome piece on anxiety. God bless you.
Still Elisedaniels...Love for the Gospel
Certainly stress and anxiety are causing great damage in society! We must seek the peace of God and establish a good trust with Him.
Be anxious for nothing, but let your requests be known before God in all prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.
Philippians 4: 6
Prayer overcomes anxiety. Who prays enough lives well. Jesus promised us a peace that the world can not give (Jn 14.27), however, he also affirmed that in the world we would have afflictions (Jn 16.33). Peace is not the absence of problems and afflictions, but it is a complete dependence on the care of our Heavenly Father.