By D.C. Collier | October 3, 2019 | 11:50 a.m.
“Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1 percent of the population every year,” according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Similarly, a Medical News Today article reports: “For many, anxiety is an ever-present uninvited guest; in our circle of friends, among family members and in communities at large. It seems to be rampaging through society like a noncontagious cognitive plague, forming a low-level hum that hides in the corners of our collective minds. In August 2018, Barnes & Noble announced a huge surge in the sales of books about anxiety; a 25 percent jump on June 2017.”
I’m a born type-A achiever. Do, do, do, that’s me. And this has been a major impediment to my understanding of the Gospel message.
My religious background led me to believe that pleasing God is all up to me. If I did “the deal,” behaved and lived “religiously,” then I would be approved. How shocking it was to learn of an entirely different way of life that looks away from self to our heavenly Provider and trust Him to “do the doing” in and through me.
But Oh, the inner conflict and anxiety I have suffered over the years trying to “square the circle” of trying to live for God on the one hand while still trying to “live the dream” of a prosperous life, as defined by the outside world.
Living the God-life
This brings me to one of the most underrated passages in scripture. The fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel tell us, “When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.”
Can’t you just feel it? The Great Shepherd gathering his flock, his closest followers to a hilltop amphitheater, away from the crowds, away from the pressures of daily life, and spelling out what life is really all about.
He began, as recorded in Matthew 6:19-34:
“Don’t hoard treasure down here (on earth) where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe … It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most end up being. You can’t worship two gods at once … You can’t worship God and Money both.”
Don’t live for this life, but for the next. I was trying to live with “one foot on the dock and one foot on the boat,” which produced anxiety under the pressure of having to continually decide between “God or Money.”
Jesus continued:
“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion … Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God … Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?”
It’s simple — live for God or live for “stuff.” Now before you think I’m calling for an unrealistic monastic lifestyle, I’m not. The real question boils down to who am I trusting for all my needs, God or myself?
Jesus went on:
“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? Relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving … Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out.
“… Don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
So, what’s this look like?
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”
Does your happiness depend on your physical circumstances, or upon your relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you seek Him and the interest of His kingdom first? Or are you building a little kingdom of your own?
How About You?
You say you trust God, but does your life reflect that fact? Sure, you may trust God for your salvation and your continued spiritual development, but how about trusting Him to know what you need, and when you need it in the physical realm?
Do you check in with Him in advance when making important life choices, or just treat Him as though He doesn’t exist?
— D.C. Collier is a Bible teacher, discipleship mentor and writer focused on Christian apologetics. A mechanical engineer and Internet entrepreneur, he is the author of My Origin, My Destiny, a book focused on Christianity’s basic “value proposition.” Click here for more information, or contact him at [email protected]. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
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