On Worrying
Published by Beth on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 at 9:10 PMI saw this article on Amy's sidebar today, and I found this particular section very convicting. The article is entitled "How to Live a Miserable Christian Life."
Not many Christians will deny that God is sovereign…confessionally anyway. There are of course those who believe that God does not know the future or cannot control the future (open theists). I am not talking about this group here. Instead I am referring to those who affirm that God is in control (Ps.115.3) but then deny this theological truth with their life.Read the whole post here.
A common way that we do this is by worrying. Rarely do we find ourselves worrying about what has happened in the past (unless it is the present or future consequence of the action). Instead we worry about what will happen in the present and in the future.
Jesus diagnosis this problem by saying that it is due to a lack of faith and is a characteristic of unbelievers (Matt. 6.30-32). This really is the issue. When we are worrying about events or circumstances we are reacting with a faithless self-absorption that is upset because we have realized that we are not sovereign. And to make matters worse, we just marinate in this posture of anxiety, refusing to trust and depend upon the God who is sovereign and good.
1 Comment:
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10/10/2007 11:20 AM
Worrying is something that I struggle with constantly, however for the past year (since I moved overseas ... wonder if that has anything to do with it), I've been a lot better. Part of my trouble is that I struggled with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and got occasional panic attacks during my last few years of college (until I sought treatment for it). As a Christian, I often wonder how much of my problem is due to my own sin and lack of faith in God's plan for me (worry like anyone else would experience), and how much of my problem is due to a chemical imbalance and has to be treated like any other medical problem? I don't believe people in my situation should make excuses for themselves and say that EVERYTHING is chemical, but it can't be ignored completely either. And whether it's chemical or not, reliance on God must always be paramount. Anyway, I know that this wasn't the kind of worry you were referring to, but I thought I'd bring up another issue that for me, is related. Thanks for this post!
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