The Anxious
“And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:29-34
“This is the great irony of social media: the more you immerse yourself in it, the more lonely and depressed you become.” Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Last January I read Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation. It was one of several books and articles I read in 2023 and 2024 on the rise of anxiety in contemporary culture. Anxiousness and acute anxiety are on the rise, so much so that various forms have been clinically named. Panic attacks all too often, plague the young and the old, the rich and the poor.
What are we anxious about? It seems some of the time we cannot even pinpoint or name what’s at the root of these negative emotions.
Are these phenomenon self-perpetuated as we peruse social media with its subliminal coercion that manipulates our subconscious into comparing our life and world with that of “the Joneses,” or are they brought on by other related forces such as our inability to unplug from the constant stimuli of our increasingly complicated technology world?
I think it’s a little of both. Our perceptions and how we allow the modern opioid of technology to influence our partner in their impact on our wellbeing and health. And the constant strafing of white noise in our world tends to rob us of space needed to abide in Him. It takes our eyes off Him.
Has God lost control or become oblivious to the growing complexities that consume our modern sensibilities? I think we know the answer to that one.
Jesus reminds us that God knows our every need, and He is our Provider. He wants us to trust and abide in Him for our peace and provision, and not become afraid. In this exhortation in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is not necessarily calling us to quit our job or other activities where we feel the pressures mounting. But He does call us to focus first on His kingdom. He challenges us to fix our attention on Him and allow Him to take care of the material matters in our lives.
It’s about TRUST, PRIORITIES, AND WORSHIP. We tend to concern ourselves with our physical needs be it food, drink, shelter, safety, transportation. And yet most of us reading this are not in want. Granted we may not always have the exact meal we want or drive the newest car, but we have clothes on our backs, food on our tables and a shelter over our heads. Jesus’ first century listeners certainly lived more modestly and with greater risk than we do today. (On the matter of food, I have read first century scholars who note that the caloric intake of the typical person in Jesus’ day was below adequate.) Yet His words transcend place, time, and circumstance.
Self-Evaluation In Prayer
In self-evaluation, we can ask ourselves things like…
“Am I succumbing to the world’s standards of success? Have I lost touch with the difference between wants and needs? Have I forgotten who my true provider is in life?
What’s most important to me in life? Where do my thoughts wander, and where do I tend to give my greatest attention, energy and resources?
Where do I turn to for fulfilling the inner longing of my soul for belonging ; to my iPhone and Instagram account, another opioid or Jesus?
Truth be known, it’s easy to succumb to the numbing of technology, become self-reliant and believe that our efforts and hard work determine our success or failure, and that we are our primary provider. With this behavior and attitude we tend to forget that everything good comes from the hand of our loving Father. He is the only one that can fulfill our deepest longings.
It is also easy to focus our attention solely on our physical needs and appetites, to the neglect of things that are eternal. And we can think it’s just about ME. …my needs, wants, hopes and fears.
Another Approach
Jesus challenges His followers to take their eyes off these things and seek first His kingdom as primary focus. He reminds us that He provides for our needs when we have their priorities aligned with His mission.
Jesus cares about our physical well being. But He also cares about our heart and what we give our life to!
It’s been said that you can tell a lot about a person’s priorities by looking at their financial transactions and their calendar of events. Where we spend our money and our time indicates something about what we truly value and give priority. We may not have much money. But we are all given the same amount of time.
Where can you invest some of the resources He has given you into His mission today? When was the last time God called you to sacrifice a physical want or need for His kingdom priorities, “sell your possessions and give to the poor?”
Walk as Jesus walked … 1 John 2:6
