“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, ESV).
It is one of the greatest common struggles known to humanity. It is not new to this generation, as it has been an issue since ancient times. The focus points and issues may have changed, but the frailty of humanity in dealing with this struggle remains; as almost every human being deals with this chronic immobilizer and limiter of living full lives. This struggle is anxiety, and it swallows up life and functioning for countless people.
The situations, issues, focus points, and causes of anxiety are varied and infinite. The ways of managing and coping with anxiety through philosophies, formulas, medications, and procedures are countless and vast.
Anxiety in its mildest and simplest form is a concern about something and in its immobilizing and uncontrolled form, it is over-concern to the point of disablement and dysfunction in daily living. The sense of lack of control over anxiety can add additional weight to this already difficult problem.
Anxiety is weight. It is the weight of thought, concern, focus, and attention. As Christians, Jesus doesn’t speak to us of denying being anxious, discounting the weight of anxiety, or increasing our faith; He simply speaks of coming to Him with all the weight of all we are carrying.
Anxiety is heavy and we can make it heavier by our struggle with it. We can involve others in our anxiety as well, as we struggle; leaving strained and damaged relationships all around us in the aftermath.
Could the answer be as simple as coming to our Lord and Savior? Our focus changes when we come to Him and listen to Him about the reality of anxiety. His words about the “abandoning of the focus on the things we eat and wear and the trouble in one day as being enough for each day” are great places to start (Matthew 5:25-34). It is also immensely important to pray in and through our anxiousness (Philippians 4:6); but are we missing something in our trying so hard to work through our anxiety? To pray is to come into His presence, but do we too easily and quickly depart from that place.
Christ simply beckons us to come to Him with the weight of our anxieties and stay in His presence long enough for Him to lift our concerns in any moment or season of our lives. Coming to our Lord and being still in His presence is trusting Him enough to take off the weight of our trouble as we find assurance in His presence.
Jesus Christ is not a formula or even an answer, but our Lord and God. He must be allowed to be big enough as our God, to carry our every care and we must stay in His presence long enough as our Lord, for His words and His Spirit to be the truth in our trusting and living through all we face. This includes anxiety and everything else we deal with in our lives from day to day. We all have anxieties in some shape or form and as believers, we all have “Someone” who can lift the weight of them off our shoulders.
Connecting with Christ Daily Reading, Matthew 11
