Adventing Through Our Anxieties

The Advent days will give us time to work on our calendars and to embrace a Christ who brings healing in his wings.

Anxiety Defined

Anxiety is a contagious plague. Anxiety is not the concern for something (we have concerns for the well-being of those we love), but anxiety is the sense that nothing or no one can take care of that something; it’s a kind of momentary or long-term hopelessness. Now, I know that anxiety is not simply rooted in the soul, but there are also physical environments and actions that can exacerbate anxiety. I know this is a big subject, but every human is responsible for their actions and anxieties. We live in a culture that loves to minimize responsibility and remove any sense of transgression.

I remember in the early days of COVID when churches allowed anxiety to control them. By 2022, we had the highest rate of suicide, depression, and drug addiction in American history. Anxiety determines eschatology. When Paul said, “Be anxious for nothing…but make your requests known to God,” he set the standard high because the consequences were also high.

When Anxiety Comes Home

But what about when anxiety hits the home? Then, it’s a bit harder to hide, isn’t it? There are just a few of you, and it manifests itself much more clearly. The most anxious in the home control the home, and anxious people don’t like to be anxious alone. So, if this fits your profile at any level, you need to identify your anxiety so you don’t draw your children or your spouse into this cycle. And if you don’t see yourself as an anxious person, then you are the one God has placed to do what Paul says. You say to the family, “All right, team. It seems we are getting anxious; we are acting like God doesn’t know what he’s doing. So, we must get in the huddle and ask him to quiet our hearts right now.” Of course, that can be applied to all sorts of complexities in the home, but anxiety receives a special kind of attention.

I was struck by a simple statistical fact that David Bahnsen observed this past week at a symposium in San Francisco. He was talking about the economic fears of our day, and then he said, “There are 365 commands to not fear in the Bible.” It’s not just the economy that frightens us; it’s everything. And God—in some comical and divine fashion—gave us a “fear not” for each day of the year. We live on this roller coaster ride of highs and lows; we have an eschatology that gets us through tomorrow, but then we have to get back to square one to see if our view of the future requires faith as it did yesterday.