Weekly Devotional 3-3-14 Worry and Anxiety
Webster’s Dictionary defines worry as “to be or make anxious.” To worry, of course, is a natural human trait. We all have been or are worrisome (anxious) over many things. I suppose this trait will be with us until we exit our present experience of life. For the natural man, the person without the Spirit of God, this can be easily understood. He or she cannot find comfort in any surety of life because there is no surety. All things that occur in the life of the natural man that is against his or her desire, causes some amount anxiety. Such anxieties as: Will my children be safe when away from me? Will this tumor be malignant? What will happen if I lose my job, how will I pay my bills? These are just a few of the many worries (anxieties) that beset natural persons every day. The Christian also, is not excluded from these things.
The Christian, however, when focused on that which is eternal, can be and should be relieved of the above mention worries. We are after all in the hands of The One who ultimately controls all things. For instance, the Apostle Paul as an encouragement to many who were facing persecution from the Jews and from the Roman government, wrote, “28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (NKJV). When we are able to surrender our wills to the truth that “all things work together for our good” (Romans 8:28-30),” that in some way or other, God is using whatever it may be that we are presently enduring to conform us to the image of His Son, all other things become less important. When we focus on the truth that we have been justified in Christ and have been made citizens of heaven (have been glorified), present tribulations will lose much of their significance.
Of course the unknown does cause anxiety. Being human we will fall to its power at times, but we must learn to trust God. We do, and will experience many things in life that are unpleasant, that cause us sorrow and grief, but if only we can be like Job who said, “thou He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15a NKJV), we will be able to live without worry or anxiety; at least to the extent of the unbeliever who lives with fear and anxiety, a fear and anxiety that often controls him.
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