Dan Peters     

ANXIETY

And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life – Matthew 6:27

Anxiety seems to be an inseparable part of the human condition.  As infants we become anxious over minor discomforts or temporary parental absence.  As children we become anxious about our ability to perform effectively.  As teens, we become anxious (oh…so anxious !) about our personal image and our relationships.  As young adults we become anxious about our performance in the working world.  As parents, we inadvertently echo the anxieties of our children and add the uncertainties of their futures to our list of anxieties. 

As we advance in years we add our health and the health of our loved ones to the list.  Throughout our lives we develop anxiety about our surroundings, our community, our nation and the world and the changes taking place therein.  When these changes occur we have difficulty in discerning whether to resist or adapt, causing us more anxiety.  To make matters worse anxieties accumulate as we age.

Let’s eliminate at once the ultimate anxiety: our destination after death on this earth. As Christians we know that …by “grace  (we) have been saved through faith. And this is not (our) own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works…”(Ephesians 2: 8-9).

But it is not just our salvation that we worry about; we have our growing and seemingly endless list of worldy anxieties too. To which God responds “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phillipians 4:6).

PRAYER:  Thank you Heavenly Father for your son Jesus and the gift to me of salvation through his death on the cross.  This relieves me of any anxiety about my ultimate destination.  Help me this day to forget all my other anxieties and, by so doing, to devote my energy to the tasks at hand and the strengthening of my personal relationship with you.  Amen