Be anxious for nothing...

I hear those words and I picture Jesus putting his arm around a child, comforting them and saying, "You've got nothing to worry about. I've got this."

Fast forward a couple thousand years and you hear people saying things like, "Worry is a lack of faith," or, "Worry is sin." 

I fell victim to this thinking for a long time. As someone who was often anxious such phrases brought a lot of guilt. Here I was thinking that anxiety was an emotion -a GOD given emotion that sometimes got out of hand (much like anger), but suddenly I was faced with the prospect that it was actually a sin. Shame. Shame. Shame on me for being so faithless. Shame on me for worrying about something-or nothing. Shame.

But there was one problem- how to stop. See, with most sins you make a conscious decision to do something you shouldn't. But this one... This one was just there. And let me tell you I would have much preferred to be rid of it even before I knew it was sinful! Now it REALLY had to go if I stood any chance of not sinning and not being ashamed. But how?

So I prayed about it. And prayed. Sometimes the worry got smaller. Sometimes bigger. Sometimes it didn't change at all. Usually I felt GODs presence as a comfort but sometimes that blasted worry just stuck around. 

Hopeless. That's how it starts to feel when something like this doesn't. go. away. When you pray and it doesn't  magically disappear. When this thing is sin and there's really nothing you can do about it. 

But hope came one day when GOD gave me this message:

Why are you ashamed? Why are you allowing my words of comfort to be twisted into words of condemnation? Why are you allowing people to judge what only I can judge? 

I felt hope. I felt peace. And then... I felt anger. Anger isn't something I feel very often, so when I do feel it, I pay attention!  Anger can be sin, but it can also be a valid and even useful emotion! GOD gets angry and GOD doesn't sin. Anger's purpose is to help a person know when they or someone else are being cheated or treated poorly.  The phrase, "In your anger do not sin," suggests to me that anger, in and of itself, is not sin. But I digress...

I felt angry at the people who were (probably unintentionally) heaping shame on people who were already hurting. Shame that, by the way, gives a person one more thing to worry about. Shame that leads people to feel hopeless and helpless. I felt anger towards the way they didn't seem to realize that Matthew 7 (about judging others) follows Matthew 6 (about anxiety). 

GOD helped me through my anger & I found comfort in Him. I found comfort in his reassurance that I had nothing to worry about because he was taking care of things. I found comfort in His reassurance that I had nothing to be ashamed of - even when I was worried- because in the same way anger can serve a purpose,worry can serve a purpose.  Worry reminds us that we need GOD in our life. Worry reminds us to talk to him & give things over to Him. Worry also spurs us on to action when there is something we need to do in a given situation. 

And as GOD seems to do often for me- He sent confirmation. I was sitting in a Ladies Bible Class when the person introducing the speaker asked if people there had received a particular email devotional that specifically said that worry is a sin. "Wow!" She marveled, "I had never really thought about it that way." To which our speaker replied in a slightly sarcastic tone, "Well, there is one more thing for everyone to feel guilty about today!"

If worry is a sin, it is already forgiven. You have nothing to be ashamed of. If it is an illness, GOD is the Great Physician. You have nothing to be ashamed of.  If it is normal, well, you have nothing to be ashamed of.

And I leave you with this excerpt from Matthew 6 (from The Message):

What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to GOD's giving. Steep your life in GOD-reality, GOD-initiative, GOD-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what GOD is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. GOD will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. 


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