Anxiety

March 13, 2012

“The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”  George Mueller

Why are so many in the Christian faith filled with anxiety?  This writer’s life from a small child was centered not in faith, but in fear; fear of failure at school, at work, of not being part of the in group, and much later in marriage, being a dad, and then being a man of integrity.  I was trained like a birddog on how to worry, and did not have any assurance of the peace that Jesus promised His disciples in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

At the age of 27 I entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ, but my emotions and my mind were trained to trust only after verification.  It is one of my biggest battles in my daily walk with Christ, and for years I believed the lie that I was alone in this struggle, but I was wrong, very wrong. 

You may ask the question; how can you be sure you were not alone, in that many who profess Christ, who go by the name Christian, are also filled with anxiety?  The answer is easy and it is verifiable, I read your emails, I go to Christian supported websites, and I do not see faith in a big God who has sent a handbook down to us about how to walk by faith.  No, they are the absence of faith, they are filled with apprehension, and often the message is what we must do, and it is not to repent of our unbelief, but to send the email to your list, or to ten people and something good will happen to you, and it implies if you do not you just do not love Jesus.

For many years I’ve ask the Father to change these 16 lane highways in my mind built on fear, and bring them down to a rocky path that I would not want to travel.  I’ve also asked Him to replace anxiety with faith, and what I am learning is that both anxiety and faith are action, “the process of doing something in order to achieve a purpose.”  So it comes down to what action will accomplish the peace Jesus has left for us. 

As a great football coach Vince Lombardi once stated; “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”  So in my chase of perfection or better stated, a daily walk with Jesus; I’ve come to the understanding that I need the “Helper.”  In my search for how to walk in victory, I came to an understanding that God never expected me to live the Christian life, only one person has ever lived it and that was Jesus Christ.  But God sent me a Helper who has come to live in my earth suit and this is Jesus’ word to us about our Helper: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”  (John 14:26 ESV) 

If you find fear and anxiety at the door of your heart, it will require you to ask the Helper to break the control you have given to both your mind and emotions to control your “Will.”  Anxiety has found a home in many a Christian’s life, and yet it comes down to our will. One last quote from Vince Lombardi, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice