(by Rich Gregory)
Stated most bluntly, a worried pastor is an ineffective pastor. The logic is simple and irrefutable. If we worry, we are not trusting God. If we are not trusting God, then how can we, without hypocrisy, effectively minister His gospel? Anxiety can be a major problem in our lives and in the lives of those within our ministries. Health experts tell us that 40,000,000 Americans will endure severe anxiety at some point within their lives. To round out this shocking number, a full 43% of adults will suffer some kind of adverse health effect related to that stress. These statistics reveal to us that the problem of anxiety is nothing short of a pandemic within our culture.
Most of us don’t think that we could be classified as “worriers,” and yet it is so easy to be caught up in concerns surrounding future, family, and finances. Even if a level of mastery is gained over these particular areas, then our very ministries themselves can easily become ground zero for additional thoughts of anxiety and worry. In actuality, we don’t truly need statistics to prove to us that anxiety is a problem. All that need be done is to simply take an honest look into the dark depths of our own hearts, and we will soon understand the sober actuality of anxiety. Christ certainly understood this, and frankly addressed the matter in Matthew 6:24-34.
According to the definition of Christ, anxiety is to be defined as any thought regarding my circumstances without the purpose of advancing His kingdom. In this passage, Christ uses the word merimnaw, a term that means “to divide up” or “to district.” According to this definition, to be worried is to be distracted from our goal. That goal, as revealed by the surrounding context of the Sermon on the Mount is to be actively looking for, and seeking to advance the coming Kingdom of God. Especially for those within the Christ’s service, we cannot afford to be distracted, for, as verse 24 clearly states, no man can serve two masters! There can be no division of purpose, no “districts” within the mind or the heart. In short, anxiety is a knife that cuts asunder our loyalties between the pursuit of God and the trivial chase of property, comfort, and influence. How then, does the believer avoid the distractions that naturally crop up within his or her heart? Within this passage, Christ gives us three strategies for defeating anxiety.
The first is to cultivate a strong faith. Christ denounces the disciples in verse 30 because of their worry. “You men of little faith!” He tells them not to worry because God will be faithful to preserve them just like He preserves the simple birds of the air. In addition to His preservation, Christ promises God’s faithfulness in providing for them. He communicates that if God is willing to clothe the unproductive and quickly fading flowers of the field in a way that is more resplendent than Solomon, then how much more is He willing to clothe His followers? If God cares for the ordinary in an extraordinary fashion, then how much more is He willing to care for the extraordinary, you and me, in a way that is at the very least, ordinary? Cultivating a strong faith in God’s ability to preserve and provide is the starting point for defeating anxiety. Until you trust Him, you cannot release your grasp upon your own life.
A second strategy that Christ reveals is to pursue a righteous walk. He commands those who claim to be His true followers to flee from the comfort of identifying oneself with the pagan Gentile. The true disciple of Christ does not spend his or her time seeking after iniquity, but rather, as verse 33 reveals, in seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. A righteous walk that abandons iniquity and pursues purity is important to defeating anxiety. The person who is consumed with looking to advancing Christ’s kingdom does not worry about the trouble that swirls around them. They are fixed, for their mind is staid upon Christ.
A third strategy is to develop a holy perspective. The one who would defeat anxiety is to focus on the immediate and the eternal. His grace is sufficient for us every day. As Jeremiah proclaims, “[His mercies] are new every morning, great is your faithfulness!” (Lam. 3:23) The faithful disciple seeks to impact the immediate for eternity without allowing his focus to wander. To squander the grace of God that is meant for the real trials of today upon the mirage of impending trouble that might happen tomorrow is foolish, and betrays a wrong perspective. God is sovereign, we are not, and thus, we have no business seeking to do His job by worrying about what might come our way. The best way to prepare for what might come tomorrow is to faithfully fulfill our obligations towards Him today. Even if tomorrow does bring a trial our way, as it very well may, we can still rest assured that tomorrow morning, just like every other morning, the grace of God will be sufficient to meet that new challenge, for it is from Him. The distracted man worries, but the wise man makes his plans and forms his strategy with the object of impacting eternity.
In the end, we must defeat anxiety so that we can freely serve God. This can only happen as we strengthen our faith, walk righteously, and have a holy perspective. If allowed, anxiety will paralyze our effectiveness in life and ministry. To allow this to happen is to allow ourselves to be distracted from the goal for which we will someday be held accountable. We must not fail to advance the Kingdom of God, for that is why we exist, and why we labor. The future is securely in the hands of Almighty God and cannot be changed. Armed with that knowledge, we must find our reward in the eternal rather than distractedly scrambling after the temporal. Stop worrying, and start serving your Master from an undivided heart!