About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

Anxiety

There is an oppressive anxiety among some that requires special attention.  On the other hand, there is an anxiety that is common to us all, especially when we find ourselves in the midst of uncertainty.  Some people of the Hyper Faith persuasion might call this anxiety a lack of faith, or maybe even a sin, but it is neither.   

The Apostle Peter wrote to a community of Christians who must have been suffering anxiety because of all kinds of trials imposed on them by an ungodly empire.  1 Peter 1:6 and 7 says this:

"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

Peter viewed these trials as a test of faith, or as I call it, a test of trust in Jesus. 

Anxiety is not a sin or a lack of faith.  It is a human reaction that provides the opportunity to reach out to Jesus during the uncertain anxious times.  We look nowhere else for relief because nowhere else can guide us through the uncertainties of life.  As we reach out to Jesus we take the next anxious step of trust on an unfamiliar path, and as we do, we will learn to trust Jesus more than ever.      

Over the years I've heard some people proclaim to be anxiety free.  They claim great faith and confidence.  They sound like powerful people of faith, but are they?   More often than not the confidence expressed is self-confidence, and look at what the Apostle Paul said about self-confidence in Philippians 3:3.

"For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh —"

This is the Biblical fact.  If you desire the life of Jesus to be reproduced in and through you, your trust in Him will be tested, and yes, you will feel anxious at times.  Taking steps of trust in times of testing, as anxious as we might be, creates more of the likeness of Jesus in our lives, and isn't that what we want?