Note:  Those who are unfamiliar with Jesus or the Bible will still see a glimpse of the truth in this article.  Thanks for letting me share it with you!  - Jeanine

What, Me Worry? - Lessons in Anxiety

by Aneel Aranha

Once, when
Jesus was preaching to the crowds, he told them a story of a rich man
who had a terrific crop one year. Rather than be happy with the
blessings he had received, the man began to worry about where he was
going to store all the grain he had just reaped. After much thought he
decided to tear down his old barns and build new ones.

"I’ll store all my goods and all my grain there," he said. "And with
plenty of good things laid up for many years, I’ll take life easy! I’ll
eat, drink and make merry."

"But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will
be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for
yourself?’

Jesus wrapped up the story in his inimitable style: "This is how it
will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich
toward God."

He then went on to make a few points.

Obviously, there is not one among us who can add a single hour to
our lives by worrying, yet we worry. When we don’t have a job we worry
about getting one. When we secure employment, we worry that the work
might be too hard for us to do. When we have learned how to do it, we
worry that we aren’t getting paid enough. And it just goes on and on.
We worry about yesterday. We worry about today. We worry about
tomorrow. We spend our lives swamped with worry and succeed in doing
absolutely nothing other than be miserable. Why?

In that last line lies the reason why we worry: a lack of faith.
Though we might profess to have strong faith, a true barometer of our
faith is the extent to which we become anxious about things. A man who
worries a lot generally does so because he does not truly believe that
God is in control of his life. He believes that he himself is, and
consequently believes that it is up to him to clothe himself, feed
himself, house himself, and equip himself with the half a million other
accoutrements that he feels are necessary to live a proper life.

A man who does have faith, however, is perfectly at peace with himself
and the world because he has truly surrendered his life and everything
in it to God. He believes—and rightly so—that God is his father who
will look after him and all his needs as long as he does the one thing
that God asks for in return, which is seek God’s kingdom and his
righteousness. (Matthew 6:33)

Seeking God’s kingdom involves patterning your life in conformity to
God’s will. Even if you are only just about to commence this exercise,
if you are sincere, you can rest assured that your heavenly father is
already ensuring your needs are met. All you need to do is pray a
little as Paul suggests in his letter to the Philippians.

Once in a while my 8 year old daughter Lianne will return from
school and tell me that she needs a little money for some class
activity. Of course, I tell her she can have it, and though I might not
give her the money right away, she hugs me and thanks me, knowing that
on—or before—the day that she needs to hand it in, the money she needs
will be given to her.

It is very similar with our requests to God, whose children we are. In
full time ministry, I no longer have a steady income, but so great is
my trust in God, my finances (or lack of them) are never a source for
worry. As an example, I have four checks that I write out to my
landlord each year towards rental payments. A couple of weeks before
the checks are due to be presented I go to my Father in prayer and tell
him that my rent is due; could he please let me have the money I
require. I don’t do this because he needs reminding, but because he
likes me to go to him whenever I need something. And then, request
made, I thank him knowing that my prayers will be answered even if I
happen to have nothing in my bank account at that moment in time. I
have never had a check bounce on me.

Such faith comes by learning to let go and trust God, something
that is admittedly not very easy to do. A friend of mine is very fond
of telling this story which perfectly illustrates how difficult it is
to surrender control of our lives.

A man was walking up a hill one day when he went too close to the edge
and slipped. Fortunately for him, a branch that grew on the side of the
hill broke his fall, and as he clung on to it desperately, he began
hollering for help.
      "Is anybody out there?" he screamed.

     After a little while he heard a sonorous voice from above. "This is God!"

     "Whew!" the man exclaimed in relief. "You came in time. Please save me."

      "Let go the branch," said God.

      The man blinked in disbelief. He looked down at the jagged rocks
winking at him thirty feet below, then up again. "Are you kidding?"

      "No, I’m not kidding," said God. "I will save you. Just let go."

      The man looked down again, shook his head despairingly and then cried out. "Is anybody else out there?"

We often face situations like this in our lives, where
everything seems hopeless and our downfall certain. Most of us
frantically seek out ways or means in which to "save" ourselves, none
of them involving God. A man with true faith, however, will simply
surrender the situation to God, and if he does try to do something
himself, it will only be in obedience to God’s instructions.

Such a level of faith does not come overnight. It is built up over
time, by a gradual process of realizing God’s own faithfulness [see The School of Faith],
and by surrendering the things we cling to. This begins by
understanding the basic fact that we have absolutely no control over
anything, and by surrendering ourselves into God’s hands we enable his
will to be done in our lives without danger of us going contrary to it.
The more we are able to surrender, the greater our growth will be. And
the greater our freedom as well, because surrendering also relieves us
of a lot of the unnecessary weight that we carry on our shoulders. On
the Christian journey, like any other difficult journey, the more
unencumbered we are, the faster our progress. So if you want to travel
fast, travel light. Give it all to Jesus.

May the Spirit be with you.