How to Handle Anxiety

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Have you ever wondered how to handle anxiety? I mean truly handle it? As a pastor, I have had anxiety. If it’s not one thing it’s another. Perhaps someone has gotten upset about something that I said or preached and I’ve heard through the grapevine that they’re upset and want to talk to me about it. Of course, as you just read, I hear things like this through “the grapevine” instead of the person actually coming to me directly, but that’s a different post for a different time! Or there are times that finances at the church are short and seem to get shorter here and there. Or there is just plain old anxious thoughts about what the Lord is or is not doing in our midst as a pastor. Anxiety is a real problem.

I even have had church members in the last 29 years of ministry come to me with the problem of anxiety. They’re anxious about their children and their behavior or their finances or their marriages or their lost dog or cat or their . . . and the list can go on and on. It seems that anxiety is everywhere. Especially in today’s environment. People are really nervous about what’s going on in the world as a whole. The American President is thinking about attacking a sovereign nation who is in the midst of a civil war. Health care costs are rising at alarming rates while unemployment is at an all time high. Fuel costs have doubled since 2008 here in America and people are having to pinch every penny they can . . . that is, if they have one to pinch! People are worried about the price of their stocks going up and down so they’re buying gold and silver at some of the highest rates ever in modern history. Then people are just plain anxious about the stress they live under constantly. They’re not sure how to handle the problems they face from day-to-day and there seems to not be very much hope nowadays.

But the reality is that there is hope! Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:25-34:

25 Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? COnsider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 35 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Wow! Three times Jesus says “do not worry . . . do not worry . . . do not worry.” Three times! So why do we keep worrying the way that we do? Why do I keep worrying the way that I do? Simply put, I’m not seeking His kingdom and His righteousness first. Rather, I’m seeking my own self-interests, self-preservation, self-whatever else is under the sun. And, yet, Jesus tells us that we don’t have to worry because if God takes care of even the least of things, then He certainly will take care of us. After all, we are the crowing work of His creation (cf. Genesis 1:26).

So how do you handle anxiety? Seek His Kingdom. In other words, seek Him directly, call out to Him and He will answer you. Secondly, seek His righteousness. In other words, seek to live according to His word: “do not worry . . . do not worry . . . do not worry.” It’s an amazing thing that happens when we start to apply what He tells us to do: we actually stop worrying about stuff!

Gloom, Despair & Agony on Me!

So I was sitting around one day thinking about all of the gloom, despair and agony that at times I feel about myself or about different circumstances in my life. I’m not even really sure why I suffer with such thoughts. When I start to think about it, God has been quite good to me and my family. His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), His love for me is everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3), His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9), His goodness is satisfying (Psalm 65:4), and this is only the beginning! There are so many different ways that the Lord shows me in His Word that He loves, cares provides, encourages, emboldens and strengthens me.

But then those times of feeling down in the dumps. These feelings seem to creep up at the most inopportune time. I think some of you that follow my blog posts can relate to this. Everything seems to be going so well then all of a sudden the light in the room is so dim that we lose sight of what’s really important. Someone will say or do something that hurts you and you think that your whole world is caving in around you. Or something tragic in the world will be taking place and it takes its toll on you. Whatever the circumstance is, it seems to take your eyes off of Jesus Christ. I know that this is the case for me at times. And when I take my eyes off of Him, then gloom, despair and agony on me!

What do I do to fix it? Most Christians today will give the cliché answer: “Just pray more and read your Bible more!” That answer is all well and good but that is not what most people want to hear. At times I can’t stand when someone says something like that to me. However, it’s exactly what I need to hear! In fact, it’s exactly what you need to hear when you’re in the thick of it! We do need to pray more and read our Bible more, but not for the reason that most people tell us to do it. They think that if we pray more and read our Bible more then God will begin to bless us again. As long as we are “doing” our part then He will “bless us.” So this sort of mentality means this: if I do this, then I will get this. I’m not so sure that this is the attitude that God wants us to have. In fact, I don’t think that’s what He desire for us at all!

Then you have this idea: I have to read my Bible more and pray in order to be right. It’s like having April 15th every single day of the year! I have to do this or that in order to be happy or blessed. It is something that I have to do otherwise I will never be judged or zapped by God. There will be a penalty that I’ll receive because of not being obedient to every letter of the law. The problem with living like this is that we are imperfect human beings who are so tainted by sin that we just can’t keep every letter of the law. So we only have gloom, despair and agony on me. This is what this sort of mentality leads to. This is why Paul the apostle teaches us in Galatians that legalism is the number one killer in the Church today. Yet, with all of our understanding (or lack thereof), we tell people that they need to do this do that otherwise they are not living a Christian life.

Then there’s a third option to consider: I get to live for the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, even though I may feel like everything is gloom, despair and agony on me, I get to turn my eyes off of my circumstances, hurt words or feelings, and put them back on Jesus Christ. I get to do this not because of anything that I have done, but because of everything that He has done. Remember at the beginning of this post some of the things I listed that God affords me to have? He affords these things for you, too. As a matter of fact, He desire for us to turn to Him because in turning to Him–and this means depending on Him–He blesses us. And we get to turn to Him when we pray and read our Scriptures. When we do this knowing the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we realize that we get to do this, then there is true freedom. I don’t do this to be blessed because I’m already blessed in the Lord with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3-14). I don’t do this to get something from God because in Jesus Christ I am His joint-heir in all things (Galatians 3:26-29). I

Gloom, despair and agony on me . . . sure, there are days that I feel this way. But the truth of the matter is that in Jesus Christ I have everything. So in the words of the author of Hebrews:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Did you see it? We get to throw off everything that’s holding us back–even the sin that “so easily entangles us”–and we get to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ. And for what reason? Why would we do this when we’re feeling all gloomy and despairy and agony like? Because He endured far worse than we ever have or will. And this was His joy knowing that we can fix our eyes on Him and in so doing we “will not grow weary and lose heart.” It’s in the times that we take our eyes off of Him that we “grow weary and lose heart.”

So be encouraged today. Even though that somebody may have hurt you deeply or the world around you is falling apart at the seams, be encouraged to stay calm and fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. There you will discover perfect peace, a peace that passes all understanding.

Popcorn

Do you like popcorn? I think the best popcorn is the popcorn that you get at the movies. But there was one day that I went to see a movie while I was in Galveston. I bought some popcorn and a Coke. The popcorn was burnt. I mean you could even smell the burnt parts. Did I still eat it? You bet I did. What I didn’t like I simply threw it on the floor with the rest of the “cinemuck”.

People are just like popcorn. Sometimes you get to know some people and they are nice and buttery. I mean, they tend to try to please you by their words and actions ever seeking your approval. Then there are those who are like the kernels that you get at the bottom of the tub. They are hard-shelled and don’t want anyone to know who they really are. If you press them enough, however, they will break and what you have on the inside is just another piece of popcorn. Then there are those who are dry. You know the type, the ones who don’t have any butter on them. They’re still tasty but they don’t necessarily have the personality that is outgoing like the ones who are all buttered up. Then the ones who have a lot of salt on them are exciting. You know, when you put a piece of popcorn in your mouth and it’s just exhilarating when you taste a bunch of salt. For some this is a great sensation but for others it is too much.

I don’t know what type of popcorn you might be, but I hope that I am the salty, buttery type and you can be, too! It’s a matter of trusting Jesus Christ for salvation, forgiveness of your sins. Romans 8:1-2 says it this way, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. What a great verse! That means that we can have life because it’s Jesus Christ that sets us free from the law of sin and death. If He sets us free, then we live, salty and buttery for Him.