Jesus said, “Who
among you, by being fretful, is able to add even a second to the length of
their life?”
—
Matthew 6:27
Anxiousness is foe most of the time, yet it also inspires us to do better.
But the kind of anxiousness
Jesus refers to, above, is the variety that calls into question the very
provision of God. Of course, such a fretful way is delirious with insanity. We
cannot control our lives in the ways we wish, let alone in the ways that are
beyond us — the circumstances that happen to us. The latter is likely to be the
type of anxiousness that Jesus has in mind.
We cannot add even a
second to our life that God hasn’t already pre-ordained. We cannot remain as we
are if we tried. We cannot change ourselves as we wish to change. We cannot fake
our regrets away. The truth is the truth. What is done is done. And all we may
do is come to an acceptance for what can never be changed.
And the good news?
It is this: we stand
at peace, in our unshakable trust in the Lord. We do what only we can do. Nobody can obey in the living
of our lives like we can. Nobody else can do what only we can do — in our lives.
If we cannot add or
withdraw anything from our lives, what point is it to stress about it? Indeed,
to believe that our stressing about something could change the result is the
worst folly. But we may feel we can
do better in our own strength. Sure, we can.
But why would we
choose for doing things our own way — with anxiousness — when we can more
easily do things in the Spirit’s strength — which is peace — an incredible
sense of power and control, because of our very insistence that we wish God to
have all control over our lives?
We redeem all power
for the gracious life when we accede to God.
To vouch for the
grace of God at any cost is to vouch for the beneficence of life.
To have the faith of
a child means to live free of the burden of anxiousness, for the perfect trust
that accepts life as it is.
Such a faith expects
nothing of life that life can’t give. Such temperance is the gorgeous joy of
delight to live very present in the moment, burdened by nothing.
The opposite of
anxiousness is joy appended with hope; a delight for what’s coming next. This
is the very state of the abundant life of the Lord that every Christian
deserves to experience.
***
QUESTIONS in REVIEW:
1. What do you worry about? Where
does your worry emanate from? How much of the
circumstances of your worry can you control?
2. How about this “joy appended with
hope”? Do you know anything of the experience of this? What will you do to
bring that circumstance-of-soul closer to reality?
© 2015 S. J. Wickham.
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