Soul Fixation: Stress

When it comes to stress, I falter easily under the weight of it. Being a naturally mellow person, terse situations make me anxious. In some situations I freak out, sometimes over a truly freakout-worthy situation, but other times I make much ado about nothing. Like many of you reading this, I do not respond incredibly well to change. I like schedules. I like consistency. I like knowing what is happening, when it's happening, and how long it is going to be happening. I like knowing, I like control, and I think all of us do to some extent. We all have worries, we all have that which we stress over.

Maybe we should all take some inspiration from Disney's Frozen and merely 'let it go'. Whatever 'it' is for you, ask yourself if it's a kingdom issue or if it's a rather worldly worry. Is it in your control or out of your hands? Is it worth stressing over? If it's truly cumbersome, then take it to God. Get wise counsel. Get on your knees and present your request to God, or talk it over with someone who can walk you through processing. Otherwise, you may need to loosen that grip you're holding onto, unclench those fists just a bit. It might be worth letting go.

Consistency is healthy and preparations are wise. The Bible speaks out against laziness, not wanting believers to be 'sluggards' in any way. However, the line to walk is thin between planning and controlling, and I think many of us, especially in the American society, could benefit from relinquishing some of the control that we think we have over our own lives, much more over the lives of others.

Have you ever experienced a life event that caused you to realize how little control you really have?

When I was in high school, I seriously injured my lower back. Enduring this sort of pain as well as walking through recovery shifted my entire perspective on life. My situation wasn’t exactly a matter of life or death, but I was still limited in what activities I could participate in for awhile. I wasn’t able to play soccer or run cross country for a good bit of time, and being limited at all completely hit me over the head. Up until that point, I hadn’t realized how much control I didn’t have. Up until God showed me otherwise, I had thought I was in control of my own life. How very wrong I was!

The truth is, we don't really know what tomorrow holds. We may or may not live to see another day, and on top of it all Christ could return at any point in time.

Soak in the words of James, the brother of Jesus: 'Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil'.

When we study this passage in James and others like it we see that the author is not presenting a problem with what people plan rather than how people plan. When it comes to the minds and hearts of people it all comes down to perspective and how people see God and themselves-ourselves.

It's important to note here that the Bible is not against saving, and indeed planning is viewed as wise. The Proverbs teach us much about wisdom and saving, commending both actions absolutely (see Proverbs 6:6-8 as an example). However, I think many of us do more than plan or save. I know that I personally take planning to an extreme and allow it to turn into stressing, and this is how I know there is a problem: no part of me is trusting God. In our society we glorify busyness, but I think if we would all slow down a bit, take a step back from ourselves, and take a look around us our eyes would be opened a little wider.

We'd see people who need loving, hearts that need cherishing. We'd see poverty that needs ending and social justice that needs bringing. We'd see that in our own lives God has either provided or promised to provide, which allows us to wait patiently upon Him.

When we make ourselves sick with worry and stress, what we are really communicating to God is that we don't trust Him, that we think our own plans better than His. Planning is wise and working hard is noble, but obsessing over control that we are unable to even obtain is indeed foolish, and it is not even for our good, though we can buy into the lie that it actually benefits us. We can try to figure every detail of life out for ourselves, or we can rest at the feet of the One who holds all of the answers.

The One who has promised to not withhold any good thing from His children.

God gives us the resources, the instructions, the wisdom on how to navigate this life. We need only learn from Him.

Do we see ourselves as in control and most important, or do we see God as in control and most important? Do we trust God at all, or are we daily grasping to control our lives, grasping at lives that are, in the words of James, 'like a fog'? Another version says 'like a mist, here today and gone tomorrow'.

James tells us two truths we often forget: we do not know what tomorrow holds, and we are not on this earth for long. James wants us to understand that human life is precious. It’s fragile, and it should be treated as such. Knowing the brevity of life should lead us to live a better quality of life. We shouldn’t get caught dwelling on things that won’t matter in a year or more from now. We should strive to value what truly matters: loving God and loving His people. One of my favorite quotes from Francis Chan says, ‘Do you know that not one single thing you do in this life will matter if it’s not about loving God and loving the people He has made?’

Oftentimes we value that which does not last or that which is not worth valuing, and perhaps these two are one and the same. We forget that things are meant to be used and people are meant to be loved, not the other way around.

Do we care about what God cares about, Himself and others, or do we care so much about our own comfort and self-worth that we are missing what truly matters? Are we worrying our lives away, or are we trusting the God that has promised us much, specifically that He will provide us with what we need?

'Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you'. 

-Matthew 6:28-30

The imagery the author uses here is overwhelming. God has clothed His children with all that we need: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, wisdom, freedom, victorious strength, courageous love, and much else. He's offered all of this and more out to us, calling us His sons and daughters. We need only accept the invitation, soak in His blessed gifts.

If I ever had a daughter, I would name her Lily, a name founded in this verse, her name being a reminder, a truth, that she is clothed with every good thing she could ever want or need. She'd know in her soul that she is wonderfully taken care of, satisfied only with a divine Father, the ultimate Provider, beautiful because of the name He has given her and not because of any other worldly label, name, or title, and I hope she'd live out such a name boldly and confidently, completely content with being a daughter of light.

The question of control, a question of trusting God, is about the condition of our hearts. When our hearts are in the right place, we are able to trust the Father to provide, and the truth is He has already provided every person's ultimate need: Jesus.

Too often we allow nothingness, fleeting thoughts, to captivate our minds. We stress and worry over that which we either have no control over or that which is not worth the stomach ulcer. This past week I asked myself, am I making much ado about nothing, or am I making much ado about issues that truly matter? Am I fussing over insignificance or am I living for that which is worth living for? Am I making a big deal of God and the work that He's done-the work that He's doing? Am I passionate about serving other people, about valuing the Father's heart, about living by the Spirit?

It also easy to be consumed with issues that aren't issues at all, at least not in the grand scheme of things. Oftentimes we complain or worry about insignificant 'issues' (often termed 'first world problems') when there are people all around us, issues that are real and raw and unspoken to, that need love brought into them. Let's pray to be the hands, feet, eyes, ears, and hearts of God. Let's always be asking ourselves, am I fussing over nothing?

Or am I making much ado about Jesus with my life?