(This one is a redo from 2016. But as is often the case, I need the reminder.)
because he cares for you.
- 1 Peter 5:7
Here is an uncomfortable modus ponens.* (Yes, I do remember something from my junior year Logics course.) Think of it as a word equation of implications.
Anxiety = Lack of trust
Lack of trust = Belief we are in control
Believing we are in control = Arrogance
Therefore, if we are Anxious,
it is due to our Arrogance.
Ouch!
Choose to apply (or not) my experience with anxiety: When I am anxious, I project into the future. Though I am in the here and now, my thoughts are in the there and then. And in some way I feel that I can change it; that I can be there/then - that I have power in the future.
But I don't.
In fact, anxiety is not only fruitless, it is also counterproductive. When I attempt to live in the future, I am robbed of life in the present; which, in reality, is the only place I have the power to live. (I am not negating the importance of preparing in the now for the then - this is also a scriptural principle).
It is no coincidence that just before writing, casting all your anxieties upon him..., Peter writes:
Choose to apply (or not) my experience with anxiety: When I am anxious, I project into the future. Though I am in the here and now, my thoughts are in the there and then. And in some way I feel that I can change it; that I can be there/then - that I have power in the future.
But I don't.
In fact, anxiety is not only fruitless, it is also counterproductive. When I attempt to live in the future, I am robbed of life in the present; which, in reality, is the only place I have the power to live. (I am not negating the importance of preparing in the now for the then - this is also a scriptural principle).
It is no coincidence that just before writing, casting all your anxieties upon him..., Peter writes:
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God...
-- 1 Peter 5:6
Humbling ourselves precedes - or is at least a major element of - true faith. God is not bound by your past. By the way, neither are you. And God is the only one who knows the future.
So here is another logical equation:
If God cares for us (and he does)...
And if God is the only one who knows the future (and he is)...
And if this God who cares deeply and knows all, is completely powerful (and he is)...
Then I can trust him.
Wait... allow me to rephrase:
I must trust him.
I have always had a distaste for Christian cliches, (you know, bumper-sticker theologies). One of these is LET GO, AND LET GOD. Cliche or not, there is truth to the idea. Faith is a letting go; a total dependence; a leaning on God.
God, help me to let go, and to lean on you... my arrogance has made me anxious.
For now...
D
*Disclaimer: I vaguely remember my Logics concepts. I take no responsibility for the misuse of Modus Ponens -- after all, it made my point :)
