Dealing with Anxiety, How to Address It According to Christ

Anxiety is an important topic because it is so common and because it is so difficult to address. As we consider such a weighty matter, there are some preliminary observations that we can make from a biblical perspective:

• Anxiety is common (Eccl 2:22-23)“What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 2:22–23, ESV)

• Anxiety is controlling (Prov 12:25) “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” (Proverbs 12:25, ESV)

• Anxiety is a manifestation of pride (1 Pt 5:6-7)“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6–7, ESV)

• Anxiety is a sin (Phil 4:6)“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6, ESV)

In addition to these preliminary observations, it might be helpful to have a preliminary definition of anxiety to work with:

Sinful anxiety is a response to what is going on in your inner-man, specifically thoughts, emotions, and beliefs that are not submitted to the Lordship of Christ.

To simplify matters, anxiety is how our flesh naturally responds to any kind of uncertainty. In this regard, anxiety and anger are very similar. Sinful anger is how our flesh responds when we do not get what we want (James 4:1-3); sinful anxiety is how our flesh responds when we are uncertain about whether we will get what we want.

This is the nature of the anxiety that Jesus is addressing in Matthew 6:25-34, where Jesus provides a general strategy that believers can employ in order to deal with anxiety in their life.

Dealing with anxiety begins with rightly evaluating it (vv. 25-30).

If we are going to rightly deal with the anxiety in our lives then we must accurately diagnose it. If we accept the world’s thinking on anxiety then we will employ the world’s remedies for anxiety. In this regard, Jesus helps us to rightly diagnose the true nature of anxiety.

• anxiety is foolish (v. 25)“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25, ESV)Our lives consist of far more than even the most basic physical necessities. There is more at stake in the lives we live than survival. In particular, we have all of eternity to take into consideration as we go through our day-to-day circumstances. The point is simple: it is foolish to focus on temporal anxieties when eternal matters are at stake.

  
  

• anxiety is forgetful (v. 26) “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26, ESV)Anxiety is incredibly forgetful. It constantly forgets God’s care for his creation, like birds. It forgets God’s special care for those created in his image, mankind. It forgets his binding promise to work all things together for the good of believers (cf., Rom 8:28). More than anything, anxiety always forgets the gracious character of God. You might even say that anxiety is forgetful to the point of being ungrateful.

  
  

• anxiety is futile (vv. 27-29)“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:27–29, ESV)You would think that as often as we run to anxiety it would at least be productive in some way. It’s not! There is a reason why the phrase “you will worry yourself to death” is such a well-worn aphorism, but no one has ever said “you will worry yourself to health.” The way Jesus describes it here, anxiety cannot extend your life by even the most marginal amount. Additionally, it will not enrich your life—you won’t come out looking as nice as the lilies of the field through a life of worry. Anxiety is as futile as it is foolish.

  
  

• anxiety is faithless (v. 30) “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30, ESV)Jesus gets to the heart of anxiety when he explains, “O you of little faith!” Worse than being futile, anxiety is faithless. It grows in a heart that doubts God’s promises, denies God’s priorities, and covets God’s providence. In other words, sinful worry is not convinced that God will do all that he has said; it is not content that what God has said is sufficient; and it is not comforted by God’s sovereign care for his creation. Anxiety is the kind of high-handed sin that we love to excuse despite the fact that it functionally dethrones God and damages our hearts. At its deepest level, anxiety is a symptom of unbelief.

Jesus’ evaluation of anxiety makes reveals the irrational nature of anxiety. It doesn’t make any sense at all, and yet we all struggle with it. So how do we deal with it? Thankfully, Jesus’ message on anxiety is as practical as it is insightful.

Dealing with anxiety requires responding to it thoroughly (vv. 31-34).

If we are going to deal with anxiety then we must respond to it thoroughly. This means that we have to own our sinful worry for what it really is. We love to excuse anxiety more than any other sin we commit, but evading responsibility only proliferates the problem. We have to diagnose anxiety for what it is, and only then we have to deal with it in the manner that Jesus lays out for us.

It is always easier to preventatively guard your heart from anxiety than it is to deal with a heart that is already controlled by worry. Remember our definition of anxiety? Anxiety is a response to what is going on in your inner-man, Once the response has already started (i.e., you already feel anxious) it becomes much harder to deal with that anxiety. It is not impossible, but it will be harder. That is why Jesus focuses our attention on filling our hearts with content that is not anxiety-inducing. To put it another way, one helpful way to think about anxiety is that it is an issue of input and output. What you put into your inner-life is what you will get out of it. Thus, in order to thoroughly deal with anxiety we must address several key areas of life.

• address your thoughts (v. 31)“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” (Matthew 6:31, ESV)To guard your heart from anxiety you need to address your thoughts. If your thoughts are always consumed with the anxieties of life, you’ll be anxious. In contrast, if the meditation of your mind is focused on spiritually profitable content, your heart will be protected from anxiety (cf., Phil 4:6-10).

  
  

• address your faith (v. 32)“For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:32, ESV)We should expect the world (i.e., “Gentiles”) to be embroiled in constant anxiety since they refuse to recognize God’s sovereignty over all things, they think that true joy comes from gratifying personal desires, and they live in the constant fear of death. However, within the church the situation should be very different because we have Christ (Hebrews 2:14–18). Not only do we have Christ, we actually know what is actually going on in the world. Ever since Genesis 3 everything ultimately causes death and nothing can completely alleviate suffering. But in all of this we also know that our heavenly Father loves us and cares for us. If we are going to quell our sinful fears, we must strengthen our faith in the fact that God knows what we need better than we do.

  
  

• address your priorities (v. 33) “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, ESV)Your priorities will impact your anxiety (Lk 12:34). Anxiety is a fleshly response to uncertainty, which means that if your heart is entangled in the uncertainties of this world it will always be anxious. Comfort, advancement, health, abundance… none of these things have been promised to us, which means they are all uncertainties. In contrast, the most certain reality in the universe is “the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” So much anxiety could be prevented simply by setting our hearts on these things.

  
  

• address your responsibilities (v. 34) “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34, ESV)Jesus closes out this section of his sermon by essentially saying that if we faithfully fulfill the responsibilities that God has given to us it will reduce our levels of anxiety. To put it another way, you have too much to take care of right now to be worried about things that are beyond your control. When you are not faithful with the duties that God has provided to you, then the cares of this world are going to start piling up in your life on every side. If you want to tempt yourself to be anxious, idly neglect your responsibility for another day. “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.” (Proverbs 19:15, ESV)