Imagine waking up each morning with a constant knot in your stomach, worrying about what the day will bring—will you have a job, will you have enough, will you measure up, or will things fall apart? For many, the imagination is not necessary; this is your reality. Well, you’re not alone in this.
We are living in anxious times. Anxiety follows us around as a daily companion and, in today’s fast-paced, uncertain world, it is often an uninvited guest in our minds. Yet, Jesus offers us a powerful remedy for our debilitating thoughts—one that offers peace, not because the storms stop, but because we choose to trust the One who calms it. In Matthew 6, Jesus reminds us that worry accomplishes nothing, and that our Heavenly Father sees us, provides for us, and holds our future in His loving hands. Jesus offers us a way to combat our anxiety, and this is what he says:
“25Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV)
In v. 25, the words “do not be anxious” (μὴ μεριμνᾶτε) comes to us in the imperative mood, meaning Jesus is commanding us to “not be anxious”. This prohibition may appear puzzling since most anxiety is not voluntary. Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides, “Let’s be anxious today!” At first glance, this prohibition may appear very different from other biblical prohibitive commands. For example, the command to not lie or not steal—for to lie or to steal requires some deliberate volitional act. So how is it that Jesus can command us to “not be anxious?”1 As Immanuel Kant famously formulated, if ought implies can, is there something we can do to obey Jesus’s command?
I believe that the prohibition to not be anxious is like any other, in the sense that it requires a volitional act of the will. There is something we must do—namely, we need to correct our thinking. To be clear, we are not supposed to combat our anxiety by simply making up our minds to just stop being anxious. That is not what Jesus is telling us to do here. Rather, Jesus is helping us recalibrate our thinking and redirect our focal awareness away from false beliefs to true beliefs.
What is the Source of Our Anxieties?
Anxiety comes as we (1) recognize our inability to control the uncontrollable, and (2) hold on to an implicit belief that God will be absent. How does this play out? We first realize that much of our lives are outside of our control. We really don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We realize all of the potential dangers that we could face.
- What if I don’t get accepted into this university?
- What if I don’t get that job? Or what if I get fired from my job?
- How will I be able to provide for myself—or my family?
- What if I experience physical sickness? What if someone I love gets cancer?
- What if some unforeseen tragedy hits?
- What if I lose everything?
- What if… (and there are countless “What ifs”)
These are perceived threats that are outside of our control. But, as we recognize these potential dangers, we also implicitly believe that if these potential dangers actualize, we will be left to ourselves and God will not be present.
An implicit belief is often hidden. Implicit beliefs may not be readily recognizable as they are hidden in our subconscious, beneath the explicit claims we make; nevertheless, our actions often betray us.
If you ask most Christians, “Do you trust that God will be present when dangers arise?”, many would answer in the affirmative – ”Yes, of course God will always be there and never let me down.” However, is this confidence maintained and reflected in how we understand or respond to our situations? Although we often use the language of “doubt” in these instances (i.e., he or she is “doubting” God’s goodness, providence, ability, etc.), I believe that “doubt” just is “holding on to a contrary implicit belief.”
When you doubt a particular belief, you are implicitly holding on to the contrary belief with a greater degree of strength. For example, you can’t doubt the claim “God will be present” without implicitly holding onto the belief that “God will not really be present” to a greater degree—if you didn’t implicitly believe the latter, you would not doubt the former. It is in these moments where we see which of our beliefs carry greater weight. So, most of our worries often come from a false implicit belief that we hold, namely, God will not really be there for me when dangers arise.
Consider
In response, Jesus tells us to “consider.” Jesus is targeting and correcting the hidden implicit belief that we have by asking us to redirect our gaze outward to “look” and “consider.” Take your eyes off of you and your situation and look out into the world—God’s world. Jesus is saying, “By being anxious about your current situation, you are holding on to the belief that God will be absent when you are in need. But let me ask you to do this: consider the birds of the air. Doesn’t God feed them and take care of them? And consider the lilies of the field. Look at how God clothes them and helps them grow. Look around you. Look at how God is so intimately providing for all of nature and look at how God is holding everything together. Look at these seemingly insignificant ants—if He cares for these, how much more would He care for you? Look at how God is holding together the entire solar system, the macrocosm of the universe. Don’t you think He can manage to take care of the problems in your microcosm of a life?”
Jesus is reasoning with us.2 If God cares for the seemingly insignificant, how much more will He care for creatures made in His image? If God has no problem holding together minuscule molecules and colossal cosmic systems, don’t you think He could easily help you through whatever it is you are going through? If God loved you so much that He sent His Only Son to die for you, do you really think He would hold anything back now?
Combating Anxiety the Jesus Way
If you want to combat anxiety the Jesus way, here are four things to keep in mind:
1. Recognize Your False Implicit Beliefs (FIBs): when you feel anxious, what is your heart telling you?
- If x happens, there will be no hope (FIB: “there is no hope in God”).
- If y happens, my life will have no meaning (FIB: “God can’t restore meaning to my life”).
- If z happens, I will be ruined (FIB: “God will idly watch me fall to ruin”).
2. Correct Your False Implicit Beliefs with True Beliefs: once you identify the FIB, correct it with biblical truth.
- Even if x happens, my God is the “God of Hope” (Rom. 15:13)
- Even if y happens, Jesus came so that I “may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).
- Even if z happens, “the God of all grace, who has called [me] to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish [me]” (1 Pt. 5:10).
3. Stop Passively Listening to Your Heart; Instead, Actively Speak to Your Heart: as the psalmist did in Psalm 42:5, speak to your heart saying: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.” Constantly remind your heart of the truth.
4. Seek Help from Trusted Voices and the Spirit: our anxieties can rise to a level of debilitation where all we see is fear and we may be unable to reasonably attend to steps 1-3. Anxiety is on a spectrum, ranging from low levels of fear or apprehension to anxiety disorders developed from a combination of genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events. We may be unable, by ourselves, to recognize and correct our FIBs. This was the case for Jesus’s audience, so Jesus had to personally remind them of the truth. We may need to seek out trusted men and women of faith who can speak truth into our hearts when we are unable to do so. When we are unable to remind our hearts how valuable we are to the Father, the words of truth spoken over us and the ministry of presence may give us the opportunity to experience the love of God through the Body of Christ–the Church. Furthermore, Paul is clear that we are not left to ourselves, but we have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we can cry out to our Heavenly Father saying, “Abba Father” (Rom. 8:15-16). When we are doubting God’s truth in the face of anxiety, we need to seek the Spirit’s assistance – as the desperate father cried out to the Lord Jesus in Mark 9:24, “Help my unbelief.”
Do you want to combat your anxiety the Jesus way? Look at God’s divine love and care for the universe, then look at your life. Remind your heart how much more important you are to our Creator and Redeemer. God loves you and cares for you more than you could ever dare hope. Lift your eyes to what God is doing and keep your eyes on Him. Reorient your vision, focus on the truth, and believe. Don’t be anxious. Instead, consider.
*I write as a philosopher and not as a counselor or a clinical psychologist. Though I am aware anxiety is closely related to the ongoings of the brain and nervous system and, perhaps, psychotropic medication may be needed for certain individuals, alas, my ignorance prevents me from speaking meaningfully into these areas or offering substantive counseling. However, for a Christian book that I found helpful, practical and clinically informed, please consider Finding Quiet: My Story of Overcoming Anxiety and the Practices that Brought Peace, by J. P. Moreland.
Photo Credit: Eder Pozo Perez
- For all the Koine Greek lovers, vv. 31 and 34 are prohibitive subjunctives.
- In this passage, Jesus is utilizing something called an “a fortiori” argument, which is a type of argument that uses the certainty of a previous argument or claim to support a conclusion that is even more likely to be true. I recommend Logic and the Way of Jesus by Travis Dickinson to learn more about the logical skills of Jesus.