What? Me Worry?
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
I used to a have a great strategy for dealing with worry. I’d lie to myself.
Friend: “Are you worried about [enter stress-producing crisis here], Chris?”
Me: “No, not at all. I’m very happy. It’s odd, though. I can’t sleep, and I feel like throwing up a little. What a coincidence those things are happening at exactly the same time I’m NOT worrying about [enter end-of-the-world scenario here].”
A similar strategy I’ve seen employed for dealing with worry is to cleverly rename it as something else.
Friend: “Are you worried?”
Clever person: “No, I’m concerned. I mean, I’m distracted by this thing. I might be bothered, a little. Or maybe I’m just super focused, you know. But I am definitely NOT worried.”
Why all the definitional gymnastics? Well, it’s because Christians have grown up with the idea that worry is sin. It’s a sign we’re not trusting God. It’s wrong. Period. Don’t do it, or you’re a bad Christian.
First of all, that’s kind of true. I mean, the sin and trusting God part. Not the bad Christian part. Paul’s message here, clearly, is that we should NOT live in a state of worry or anxiety. But we all feel it sometimes. Earlier in this same letter, Paul wrote that he was happy for something to happen so that “I may have less anxiety.” (2:28) He also struggled with worry, apparently.
As with anger, the deal with worry isn’t whether we feel it or not. We will. It will happen. We don’t have to try to hide it or lie to ourselves about it. The deal is what we do with it when it happens. Paul gives us a great strategy to implement for dissolving worry. Here’s what he said.
1) “Do not be anxious about anything.”
Sometimes we read those words and think, “Impossible!” They sound so absolute. How could anyone not worry about anything? I think, though, that we have to take each worry as it comes, one at a time. It might be better to hear in those words, “Don’t think of anything as being okay to worry about.”
Some of think it’s wrong to worry about big things: war, divorce, illness. Trust God with those, sure. But then we’ll freak out about the latest zit or obsess over something a friend said two days ago that might have been really mean.
Paul seems to say, Don’t live in worry over anything, no matter how large, how small, how global, or how personal. We say, “Okay. How?”
2) “Present your requests to God.”
Let’s take the spiritual undercoating off of this language. Read it this way: “Tell God what you want to happen.” Now, careful here. Paul does not say, “Tell God what you want to happen -- and he’ll custom order it for you in a variety of flavors.” I think the idea is to examine the worry you’re feeling and identify your best case for a positive outcome. Tell God what you want. For one, that will turn your vague worry into a very specific understanding of the situation.
a) “by prayer and petition”
Remember, though, this is a request. Don’t tell God what you want and demand He give it to you or you’ll never stop worrying. We make a prayer or petition to someone in authority, understanding they have the full right to say “no.” God is trustworthy. Telling him our request allows us to know we’ve gone to straight to the top. Then we’ve got to trust the God who loves us to make the right call about what to give to us.
b) “with thanksgiving”
To me, this is the biggest ingredient most of us miss. Giving thanks to God for every good gift in our lives (James 1:17) is first, an act of humility. It says, “God, I didn’t provide any good thing for myself. You’re the source of everything in my life that matters to me.” It also reminds me that God has an ongoing habit of taking care of me. When I take time to search my personal history for things to thank God for, I discover vast evidence that God really cares for me.
3) Expect God’s illogical peace.
Here’s the promise: When you humble yourself before God by giving thanks and making your request, trusting Him to do the right thing for you, He will flood you with a peace that might not mesh with your circumstances. Even if things go downhill, you can experience less worry. Make sense? Nope. But it’s real.
4) Think about something else.
We often quote verse 8 in this passage when we’re talking about mental purity. Paul was talking about anxiety. Change the pictures playing on the wall of your mind. Swap out the thing you’re worrying about for something that fits this description: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. If you’re focused on something like that, it will be harder for you to go right back to worrying about the other thing.
5) Repeat.
But we DO go back to worrying. This isn’t a once-for-all fix. You might need to repeat Paul’s process every five or ten minutes for a while to dig out the worry in your heart. But you can dig it out if you’re willing to trust our trustworthy God. Don’t just be “a worrier.” Become a former worrier.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
—Philippians 4:6-8
I used to a have a great strategy for dealing with worry. I’d lie to myself.
Friend: “Are you worried about [enter stress-producing crisis here], Chris?”
Me: “No, not at all. I’m very happy. It’s odd, though. I can’t sleep, and I feel like throwing up a little. What a coincidence those things are happening at exactly the same time I’m NOT worrying about [enter end-of-the-world scenario here].”
A similar strategy I’ve seen employed for dealing with worry is to cleverly rename it as something else.
Friend: “Are you worried?”
Clever person: “No, I’m concerned. I mean, I’m distracted by this thing. I might be bothered, a little. Or maybe I’m just super focused, you know. But I am definitely NOT worried.”
Why all the definitional gymnastics? Well, it’s because Christians have grown up with the idea that worry is sin. It’s a sign we’re not trusting God. It’s wrong. Period. Don’t do it, or you’re a bad Christian.
First of all, that’s kind of true. I mean, the sin and trusting God part. Not the bad Christian part. Paul’s message here, clearly, is that we should NOT live in a state of worry or anxiety. But we all feel it sometimes. Earlier in this same letter, Paul wrote that he was happy for something to happen so that “I may have less anxiety.” (2:28) He also struggled with worry, apparently.
As with anger, the deal with worry isn’t whether we feel it or not. We will. It will happen. We don’t have to try to hide it or lie to ourselves about it. The deal is what we do with it when it happens. Paul gives us a great strategy to implement for dissolving worry. Here’s what he said.
1) “Do not be anxious about anything.”
Sometimes we read those words and think, “Impossible!” They sound so absolute. How could anyone not worry about anything? I think, though, that we have to take each worry as it comes, one at a time. It might be better to hear in those words, “Don’t think of anything as being okay to worry about.”
Some of think it’s wrong to worry about big things: war, divorce, illness. Trust God with those, sure. But then we’ll freak out about the latest zit or obsess over something a friend said two days ago that might have been really mean.
Paul seems to say, Don’t live in worry over anything, no matter how large, how small, how global, or how personal. We say, “Okay. How?”
2) “Present your requests to God.”
Let’s take the spiritual undercoating off of this language. Read it this way: “Tell God what you want to happen.” Now, careful here. Paul does not say, “Tell God what you want to happen -- and he’ll custom order it for you in a variety of flavors.” I think the idea is to examine the worry you’re feeling and identify your best case for a positive outcome. Tell God what you want. For one, that will turn your vague worry into a very specific understanding of the situation.
a) “by prayer and petition”
Remember, though, this is a request. Don’t tell God what you want and demand He give it to you or you’ll never stop worrying. We make a prayer or petition to someone in authority, understanding they have the full right to say “no.” God is trustworthy. Telling him our request allows us to know we’ve gone to straight to the top. Then we’ve got to trust the God who loves us to make the right call about what to give to us.
b) “with thanksgiving”
To me, this is the biggest ingredient most of us miss. Giving thanks to God for every good gift in our lives (James 1:17) is first, an act of humility. It says, “God, I didn’t provide any good thing for myself. You’re the source of everything in my life that matters to me.” It also reminds me that God has an ongoing habit of taking care of me. When I take time to search my personal history for things to thank God for, I discover vast evidence that God really cares for me.
3) Expect God’s illogical peace.
Here’s the promise: When you humble yourself before God by giving thanks and making your request, trusting Him to do the right thing for you, He will flood you with a peace that might not mesh with your circumstances. Even if things go downhill, you can experience less worry. Make sense? Nope. But it’s real.
4) Think about something else.
We often quote verse 8 in this passage when we’re talking about mental purity. Paul was talking about anxiety. Change the pictures playing on the wall of your mind. Swap out the thing you’re worrying about for something that fits this description: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. If you’re focused on something like that, it will be harder for you to go right back to worrying about the other thing.
5) Repeat.
But we DO go back to worrying. This isn’t a once-for-all fix. You might need to repeat Paul’s process every five or ten minutes for a while to dig out the worry in your heart. But you can dig it out if you’re willing to trust our trustworthy God. Don’t just be “a worrier.” Become a former worrier.
1 Comments:
I finally realized why I couldn't open up about what worries me. I have always thought it meant my faith was week or that I would be perceived as weak for worrying.
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