A quiet anxiety drives me.
It’s that free-floating fear of failure or disappointing others—especially God.
It’s the illusion that I’ll be happy if I just can keep all the plates spinning on their poles.
It’s the occasional panic that comes from feeling out of control.
I know that worry is toxic, and yet I find myself drinking again and again from its cup.
What’s so bad about a little anxiety? After all, it can increase productivity.
But then again, so do caffeine and cocaine…
On the other hand, worry can paralyze us. At the end of the day, it’s a no-win scenario.
Worry can be clinically addictive.
Either what we worry about actually happens, confirming our fears and causing us to catastrophize even more next time.
Or, our fears don’t materialize and our brain convinces us that worrying prevents bad things from happening. So, the more we worry, the better we think it’ll be.
Jesus exposes the utter folly of worry in the Sermon on the Mount:
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?... 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. –Matthew 6
Caring is not the same as worry.
Stewardship is not the same as worry.
Faith is not the same as worry.
To really care is to cast our all our cares on Christ, for no one loves us--or our loved ones—more.
To be good stewards is to live like God is the Master of all we have and need—and we’re just conscientious caretakers.
To have true faith is to trust that God knows the end from the beginning and that nothing will pass our way that does not pass first through his hands.
Jesus commands a healthier and more productive alternative to worry: Kingdom seeking.
We seek the Kingdom when we set our hearts on God and what pleases him.
We seek the Kingdom when we learn to live in the moment we’ve been given rather than to obsess over what lies ahead.
Kingdom-seeking changes our perspective on life…and death. We see life as a quest to know Him and make Him known. We see death as an occasion to move beyond just knowing God “through a glass darkly.”
A Kingdom-seeker asks, “Lord, how can I please you today? How can I serve others as I serve you? What are you giving me that will require more trust and faith?”
When I seek his Kingdom and his character, everything else I need falls in place. When I worry, I miss both the Kingdom and the benefits of his Lordship.
Jesus never promised a life without hardship. In fact, Scripture uses words like trouble, struggle, wrestle, trial, affliction, temptation, persecution and martyrdom to describe what it will mean to be a Kingdom-seeker. And through it all, Christ offers his transcending peace in exchange for our debilitating anxiety.
I confess that I worry about being good in my job.
I obsess over the welfare of family and friends.
I am anxious about tomorrow.
How about you?
Lord, deliver us from the addiction of worry.
Let us cast our cares on you—and resist picking them up again.
Help us to be good stewards instead of great obsessors.
Make us grateful for every trial that teaches us to be more faithful to you.
Today, we choose Kingdom-Seeking over worrying.
We pray this in the Name of Jesus--who knows our names and our needs,
Amen.
--For more practical articles about spiritual development and leadership, check out the blogs at Discover Worship.com.