Christian Stress

By Glenn Miller

GOD’S WORD: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things [security, peace, freedom from worry] will be given unto you as well.” – Matthew 6:33 (italics inserted by author)

The world-famous psychologist Selye once said that “life is stress and stress is life.” Most people I know would agree with this, especially yours truly. Stress is something that seems inevitable in today’s world with all the deadlines, agendas, and standards we put ourselves through. Because we sometimes let stress get the best of us, we develop ulcers, anxieties, phobias, and a subsequent host of other medical problems; all which only worsen the initial damage of feeling stress. But one truth exists about stress: it feeds upon insecurity.

We get stressed out in traffic because we are afraid we’ll be late.

We get stressed out with certain relationships because we feel we have no control.

We get stressed out with deadlines because we are fearful of the consequences.

Yet Christ’s teachings tell us to be secure, not insecure. If God is for us, who can be against us? If we believe in the sovereignty of God above all things and all people, then why do we worry? Keep in mind that I’m not speaking as one who has mastered the art of managing stress, but as one who struggles with stress on a daily basis. But I’ve discovered that as I get older and my reliance becomes more upon God than on myself or others, I find that stress is hard to come by.

A friend recently reminded me that the remedy for fear, worry, anxiety and stress is PRAISE! And he’s right! I believe it is humanly impossible to feel stress when you are sincerely worshiping and praising God. In our praise, we acknowledge the sovereignty, power and promises of God. In our praise, we acknowledge God’s Perfect Love made known to us in Jesus and claim the truth that “perfect love casts out fear!”

Maybe it’s time we quit telling God how big our problems are and start telling our problems how big our God is.