Overcoming Anxiety | Philippians 4
July is a month in which we try to slow down as a church and practice the rhythm of rest, we scale back volunteers, groups don’t meet but as we come to the close of July, if you are like me — you might be getting a little high strung. Anxiety is starting to set in with all the things that are fixing to start back up — and for me I have anxiety and struggle with panic attacks at times and so in these seasons I have to be really mindful to remember — that over and over again in the scriptures we are given this one beautiful and simple truth that you and I exist to know and enjoy God — not to just hurry through life. All things are made by him and for him and that nearness to him is for our good. In Philippians, it says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” You and I exist to pursue our joy in God to rest and delight in His love. We are meant to pursue intimacy with the Almighty.
For many of us, our problems are not our major problem. It’s our anxieties about our problems that is the problem. Statistically, across all age demographics — we are the most anxious generation who have ever lived on the planet. Something about modern life is just not conducive to human flourishing — Which is crazy because we are relatively more safe than any generation that’s existed. And that should concern all of us because anxiety doesn’t just lead to missing out on what God has for us, anxiety is a condition of the heart that brings forth many sinful states of mind. For many of you, your stress about hypothetical situations is actually killing you. And it’s not meant to be like that. Particularly for the people of Jesus, it’s not meant to be like that. We are meant to be different. The world is not impressed when we sing about the Prince of Peace, but live a reality of stress. Yes, it’s meant to look different. In verses 5-6 it says, “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything.” Not only is the Lord present in your moment, but there is permission in this statement — that you don’t need to be anxious — the Lord’s got this — he is at hand. The Lord says there is never a thing you are obligated to get anxious about.