High Anxiety

Philippians 4:5-7 “Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Pastor JJ in his Mega-series Sunday Sermon on Philippians, tells us that anxiety disorder is a mental uneasiness arising from fear, solicitude, or apprehension leading to deep concern. And there are plenty of cares, riches, and pleasures of life, that bring no fruit of Christian life to maturity (Luke 8:14). Pressures and over-whelming demands have created confused priorities, unrealistic expectations, unachievable goals and an unbalanced life for far too many of us, leaving us asking: “what am I going to do?” The cost and time required for clothing, electronics (smart phones, iPods, social networks, worldwide web, etc), entertainment, food, games, gas, housing, medicine, toys, and vehicles distracts and misdirects us from the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding and can make us ineffective for God’s kingdom work. This hurried life-style and social acceptance causes juggled priorities and missed obligations that could lead high anxiety releases in the form of drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex and spending disorders, and the like to escape. We see this on a grand scale in our society today. We live as if we are ruled by this world, not God.

Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved).”

God came near to us, not us to Him, and while we were still sinners and dead in our transgressions. I’ve heard religion defined as “man’s attempt to reach God by bringing Him down to our level”, when in reality it is God who comes down to meet us. The real root question is: “Who do we believe God to be?” Do we really believe that God is good? Matthew 6:24-25 tells us: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “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?

Do we truly believe in God’s love? Do we sincerely believe that God provides for us? Do we faithfully believe that God is close? Do we honestly believe that God speaks to us? Do we genuinely believe that God touches our lives? Do we truthfully believe that God is in control? Bottom line: Are we trusting God or ourselves? The answer is God. That is where true joy and happiness is to be found.

Matthew 6:32-34 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

In Christ, Brian