Waging War on Worry, Anxiety, and Fear, pt.1

Do not be anxious.  Fear not. Let not your heart be troubled.  Do not be weighed down with the cares of life.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Easier said than done, right?  

The Bible is replete with commands not to worry.  The admonitions against it are so clear and repetitive that one can easily become worried about becoming worried!

But God's word is clear:  We must wage war on worry.  We have a duty to not let ourselves be distracted with it or dominated by it.

But how do we do this?  How can we experience sanctification in this area?  

The first step is to confess it and take responsibility for it.  That is to say, when thoughts begin to race around in our minds and we become obsessed with particular situations (real or fantasized), we must own up to the fact that we are in sin.  We are in fact disobeying God.

One of the reasons anxiety persists in our lives is because we fail in this, the most simple and basic part of repentance.  Instead of turning to God, we will do one of the following:

1.  We blame others -  I'm worried because my kid is 10 minutes past curfew.  My boss was supposed to tell me if I got the promotion last week. It's not my fault I'm strung out, right?  Wrong.  You may worry about others, but they are not the cause of your worries.  Your anxiety is due only to your own sinful proclivity.  Don't pass the buck onto them.

2.  We minimize it -  To many people, worry is not a sin.  We don't want to admit that it is a transgression against God and a form of disobedience.  We'd rather think of it as "deep concern" or think of ourselves as having a full heart.  But we must be true to Scripture and recognize that it is indeed an offense to our Lord.

3.  We excuse it -  I have a right to be worried, after all I'm his father/mother.  I'm a worrier; it's just who I am.  Someone has to be concerned around here.  We will come up with all kinds of justifications.  We will rationalize our sin into perfect reasonableness.  But the truth is, we do not have a right or excuse to be all hot and bothered about anything.

4.  We think we have no power over it -  I can't stop it. I've been this way all my life.  It is a disorder. I can only cope and make do.  This is the defeatist mentality.  Its saying that redemption isn't possible, so why even try repenting?  In the words of Churchill, "Never, never, never give up."  The Lord has not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

5.  We gloss over it - For many, worry isn't even considered to be a sin.  They don't think of it as being a real infraction against God's law.  It could be thought of as a problem or struggle that they have, but not a sin.  But Scripture is clear: it is a grave error and serious offense to God.  It must be confessed and repented of.

If we are ever going to seek victory over worry, we must wage war on it.  This means we must first come to terms with it and own up to it before God. As we begin taking responsibility for our sin and acknowledging our failures to God, we will be well on our way to victory in that battle.

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