The Gospel: Replacing Anxiety with Access

Matthew 6: 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

           

Some people are natural born worriers. I just happen to be one of them. I have always been an anxious person. I sometimes worry that I might worry about something! The truth is that worry can be extremely crippling. In an instant a person’s world can be overrun with anxiety and nervousness. It is a particularly difficult disposition to overcome; because once a person begins to worry they “melt.” The Hebrew word for “worry” literally mean “to melt.” It is much like a candle that has been lit. In no time at all it begins to contort and drip away. That is the feeling of worry. You feel like you are literally wasting away.  Anyone who has ever worried knows that once it starts it is almost impossible to stop yourself. Once our thoughts take flight they are so hard to catch. I know from a lot of personal experience that there is no “three step” program to cure anxiety. Anxiety reaches so deep that a simple modification of behavior will never suffice to cure the problem. You can’t kill a tree by simply picking off the fruit. You have to get to the root. Anxiety is no different.  We don’t need a Band-Aid; we need a cure.

            Anxiety is a terribly frightening way to live, because it necessarily takes God out of the equation. When we worry we construct an alternate reality and whether we mean to or not, we alone rule that universe. For example, if I don’t hear from my wife for a while I may let myself get anxious. I may worry that she had been in an accident. I may let myself slip into great anxiety about this made up situation. When I am in that state there is no way for me to be helped. The reason is because if my wife had in fact been in an accident the Lord would have comforted me with the “peace that passes understanding.” However, since the situation is based on worry and not reality there is no peace. There are only my own faulty feelings. At its core worry is nothing less than idolatry. It puts me in control and takes God out of the equation. When I worry I become overwhelmed and I “melt” because I was never intended to be God. I was not created to rule the universe. Instead, I was created to be with God. My own sin pulls me away from Him, but in Christ I have complete access to the One who controls everything… including my worst fears! Therefore, worry is a much deeper problem than it may seem on the surface. We don’t need a “three step program”; we need God Himself! The glorious news for anxious people everywhere is that Jesus Christ has made a way for us to have access to God. We don’t need to construct alternative universes and scenarios where we are in control. We need only to let go and trust that the same God, who sent His only Son to save us, is the same God that controls the universe!

            Worry seems to give us power, but in the end just leaves us empty and exhausted. The gospel not only frees us from the shackles of anxiety, but it also cures the root problem, idolatry. The gospel makes much of our great God. It pushes us deeper in both our admiration and our understanding of who God is. The gospel gives us direct access to God. We no longer have to sit around and worry about what may happen. No, now we can go straight to the God of the universe. Because of Jesus Christ we can go straight to the Creator Himself! We don’t have to fret anymore. We can let go and trust that the God of the gospel is our God. Does this mean that bad things will not happen to us? No it does not mean that at all. What it does mean is that we have a God who loves us and cares for us. This means that in spite of hardships, in spite of our worst nightmares we are not alone and we are not forgotten! We have the assurance that if some of our deepest worries do come true that we have a God who loves us to death. We have a God who will give us peace and comfort. We have a God who will never leave us or forsake us! This makes our hearts overflow with peace and deep-seated joy even in the face of tragedy. Let’s cling to Jesus and He will loosen the grip of our anxiety. He has proven His love for us on the cross. Though our minds whisper doubts to us; the cross shouts God’s love and provision for us. It was Jesus who made the way for us to be saved. He is altogether trustworthy! Let’s soak in the glory of His gospel! This gospel exchanges our anxieties for direct access to God Himself! That is great news for all of us!