Worry, fear, and anxiety will steal your joy

Good morning, everyone.

Our theme for this month: “Living with joy”

Our Bible verse for today: “So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.” Philippians 4:1 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Worry, fear, and anxiety will steal your joy”

The angel of death was walking along the street when a man stopped him and asked, “Why are you here? What are you going to do?” The angel replied, “Today I am going to kill 10,000 people.” The man responded, “That’s awful! That’s terrible!” But the angel of death just shrugged and said, “Yeah, well that’s what I do. I take people’s lives. Sooner or later, everybody dies.” And he walked away.

Later that evening the same man saw the angel of death coming back in the opposite direction. Once again, the man stopped him and this time he said, “I thought you said you were going to kill 10,000 people. I just heard that 100,000 died today.” And the angel said, “I did only kill 10,000. Those were the 10,000 who were supposed to die today. It was worry and fear that killed all the others, but none of them had to die.”

Dr. Charles Mayo was the famous physician who founded the world-renowned Mayo Clinics. He once wrote that “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system, and profoundly affects the health.” The Christian writer Corrie ten Boon once wisely observed that “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”

Do you ever find yourself getting caught-up in the trap of “What if” thinking? What if this happens, or what if that happens? One study revealed that something like 90% of the things we worry about never even happen. Another 5% of the things we worry about do happen but they end up happening good instead of bad. It’s only about 5% that actually do happen, and happen bad. But even then, they’re almost never as bad as we thought they would be. And so, we waste all that time and emotional energy worrying about things that in all probability will never happen; or will happen but will end up being good rather than bad; or, if it is bad, it probably won’t be as bad as we thought it would be. So, we need to stop worrying so much. Worrying like that causes unnecessary fear and anxiety, and it also steals our joy.

In Philippians 4:1, as he was wrapping up this letter of joy, Paul urged us to “stand firm in the Lord.” He will then go on in the next verses (which we will look at in the days to come) to teach that if we do that, if we stand firm in Jesus, we will experience assurance rather than worry, and peace and joy rather than anxiety.

Worry, fear, and anxiety are major joy-stealers in life but by standing firm in Jesus, we can effectively combat them.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply