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When we get anxious, does it help? I think everyone gets anxious. Parents get anxious about sick kids. Teens get anxious about exams or peer pressure. Farmers may get anxious about drought or flooding or plagues. Businesses get anxious about the economy. We get anxious about a serious illness in a loved one or ourselves.

In some ways, anxiety comes naturally to us. So many factors are beyond our control. So when Jesus says, “Do not be anxious about your life,” (Matthew 6:25) or Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything,” (Philippians 4:6) it seems unrealistic. Yet I don’t think they’re condemning people who experience anxiety. I think they speak against remaining in our anxiety.

Jesus utters the command and then gives reasons to back up the command. One piece of His command caught my eye today. “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Anxiety does not produce longer life. In the context, he’s talking about food to eat. So the issue is survival. Yet anxiety does not produce food.

Instead, Jesus says, we must turn to our Father with our anxieties. Bring them to Our Father actually does produce something. It helps us share our burden with the One who has the resources to make a difference. It reminds us that we come to a Father who already knows that we need food and clothes. It enables to move forward in spite of our anxiety.

In a similar way, Paul does not just utter the command “Do not be anxious.” He teaches what to do with our anxiety. “But in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).

We take everything to God in prayer. We do it with thanksgiving to God thereby remembering His help in times past. We ask for His intervention. We receive His peace. His peace is way beyond human understanding. His peace stands guard over our hearts and minds. Now that is productive.

“Thank you Father God for your loving commands that address the reality of our lives. We get anxious for all kinds of reasons. But help us to see that we don’t have to stay there because of You and Your loving care. Please send your peace to us, that is way beyond our understanding, so that we can share it with our anxious world.”

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