What is the opposite of anxiety?

not · Post by **not** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 5:35 pm

This was the sermon given to The King of Peace Church in Georgia.
From
I Peter 5:6-11

The Opposite of Anxiety

Anxiety cannot be avoided or eliminated. At least not in these days when three dollar gas sounds like a bargain or when pension funds may not be there or retirement funds might not go as far as you thought or, I could go on. And these are economic worries that don’t take in the anxiety of worrying about your child and drug use or whether your marriage is going to make it or your health is going to improve, I could go on yet again. But this isn’t King of Anxiety Church. We are King of Peace Church and you didn’t come here this morning to get your anxiety level cranked up.

I trust that you have come to hear a very different story from the anxiety riddled ones we hear each day just watching the news. We gather to tell the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. We gather to worship Jesus Christ, the King of Peace, in a world wracked with fear, confusion, uncertainty and anxiety.

In this brief time I have with you this morning, I want to share something of why and how anxiety works and then show you a biblical alternative to unproductive worry and needless anxiety. By doing it this way, you will see how what the Bible teaches fits well with what your doctor will tell you about anxiety, and why the answer God gives through his word is an effective treatment for your anxiety.

Anxiety means the presence of apprehension, fear, worry or nervousness. These are natural and healthy. God gave us anxiety to protect us. When a rattlesnake rattles its tail, you look down and see the lethal threat of a strike. The feeling that floods your body is a built in response to get you moving in a way that will save your life.

The word itself is pretty interesting in what it tells us about anxiety. It comes from the Greek “ananke” which was the word used for the ring or yoke a slave wore around his or neck. The word meant narrow, tight, or suffocating. The Latin words for both “choking” or “strangling” come from this root source and both “anger” and “anxiety” come from it as well.

Anxiety is a narrowness or closing off of our breath. This fits with an odd expression in Hebrew. In English we say that we have had it up to here with someone [pointing to the top of the head]. In Hebrew you make a gesture at the top of your throat and say “Ad Nephesh” which works the same way but means up to your Nephesh which is the word for breath, soul and life force. So you say that someone is cutting off your very breath, sould and life source. Ad Nephesh. This is something like how we feel when anxiety kicks into high gear, we get panicky like someone gasping for air while being choked.

The physical reactions that go along with anxiety are things like heart palpitations, shortness of breath, a headache, stomachache, nausea, tingling sensations through out the body including the face, and chest pains etc. These symptoms at first do not seem like a gift from God but actually are as it is simply the bodies way of preparing us for a perceived threat real or imagined does not much matter the body is ready to take action and run, and so blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to your major muscle groups, cortisol and adrenaline are all jacked up to higher levels during this time of increased stress while your digestive system slows down. All of these physical responses are preparing you for the fight or flight mode to deal with the perceived threat.

Anxiety is as natural as happiness, sadness and other emotions. Anxiety is a coping mechanism hard wired into us by our creator who created a protective mechanism to prevent us from engaging in potentially harmful behaviors. We still get into lots of trouble, but God wired us so as to better deal with the threats we face. If we did not have anxiety we probably would not be here today because we would have no way of interpruting actual danger and would fall victim to an attack.

Scientists have used Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (or FMRI) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans to see which parts of the brain are active in times of anxiety. The part of the brain that is involved in anxiety is the amygdala. This is the lower part of the brain and it lights up with neural activity on an MRI and shows increased blood flow in a PET scan. The amygdala is a primitive part of our brain that deals with emotional processing and memory. It is the amygdala that also prompts releases of adrenaline. This part of our brain takes over when we go into survival mode.

Here’s one example in the life of a redneck priest. After we finished building this church building, I was pulling up the erosion control fence alongside the building. As I reached around the back side of the fencing to grab the stake, I exposed a cottonmouth moccasin who coiled back when its own primitive brain kicked in. This is one of those occasions when my body decided for flight rather than fight. I jumped back and my heart started racing as the snake slithered away. I have never seen another moccasin on our property. The adrenaline that flooded my system kept me anxious after the threat had long passed. But that was just my God given alert system keeping me ready in case of a renewed threat.

Anxiety can also be a problem, especially when unmoored from a specific threat. Anxiety can interfere with one’s ability to sleep or to function anywhere near one’s best. Anxiety can be way out of proportion to the real threat or can even occur without a threat. I experienced this myself when a few years ago I was having generalized anxiety with no real cause I could discern. It turns out that it was an under functioning thyroid causing the problem. That showed me how when it gets out of whack, anxiety can seriously impact your day to day life for the worse not matter the actual cause the feelings are the same.

But let’s assume for the moment that it’s not a chemical problem. Once you know it is not a fight or flight circumstance, it is time to take back your own brain and let some higher thinking get going. You do have control over this, but it is not easy. Take for example being anxious about finances. You don’t want your amygdala, your primitive brain, to make decisions about what to do about money. But if you don’t overcome your anxiety, you will make bad decisions as the stress you feel will limit your response. You won’t see creative solutions, just more threats needing a quick response.

The Apostle Peter knew this. He knew that in times of high stress we needed to think more clearly, and live much less from our anxiety and much more from our faith. When he wrote our epistle reading for this morning, he was writing to a group dealing with life or death stress. They were being persecuted for their Christian faith. They faced arrest, interrogation and death. Those Christian’s stress levels would have far outpaced anything we face from high gas prices or trying to juggle a job, a marriage and children. Yet, Peter wrote, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”

At first glance, this would seem like weak medicine for a group facing the strong fear of torture and death. But Peter meant something much more real and more deeply effecting than just giving your problems to God and going on with your life as if nothing was wrong. Peter is teaching here in a new way for a new context what Jesus taught when he asked his disciples, “which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span?” Then he answered his own rhetorical question saying, “If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?” (Luke 12:25-26).

Peter tells it as, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” The word for casting that Peter uses is the word used to describe throwing a blanket on an animal you want to ride. It is to throw upon. This is why the New Jerusalem Bible translates this phrase as “unload all your burdens on to him.” The J.B. Phillips translation which was something like The Message for the World War II generation translated it, “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties on him.”

And the word for anxiety is not the more common word that is tightness or narrowness, but “merimna,” which does mean anxieties, but came from a root to do with being drawn in different directions. This is anxiety in the sense of being torn more than one way at once. So a more literal translation would be “Throw all the things pulling you in different directions on God because he cares for you.” Or even “Throw all the things pulling you in different directions on God because he cares about the things that concern you.”

There is one more bit of wisdom in how Peter teaches us about anxiety in this section of his letter and it goes beyond the surface. We know that the opposite of anxiety is serenity, peace, tranquility. The dictionary even gives the opposite of anxiety is certainty, assuming I would guess that if we are certain of the future, then we are not anxious. That would be nice if it were true. Then as Christians, we could say that no matter what comes, we know that we are in God’s hands. I am uncertain what the future holds, but I am certain who holds the future. That would then be the key to an anxiety free life.

But the truth is still that anxiety is God given and a life-saving help to us. So God is not going to turn off your anxiety for good, no matter how much faith you have. Peter points to something else as important and I think it may be the true opposite of anxiety which is humility.

Peter wrote in a portion of the letter we didn’t read today saying, “All of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” Then he went on in the next sentence with what we read, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you.”

So the context for throwing your anxiety onto God’s broad shoulders is humility. But what do being humble and giving your anxiety to God have to do with one another? I think it is only once we admit that we don’t have the answers to our most vexing problems that we are willing to cast those cares on God. It shouldn’t be that way, but there it is. We want to hold on to our problems and handle them ourselves. Then when things go from barely able to cope to overwhelming, that’s when we decide to Let go and let God handle it.

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself enough to admit that you don’t have all the answers. Why spend the night tossing and turning worrying about stuff? God is going to be awake anyway. Turn your cares, your anxieties, your fears over to God. Really truly admit that you don’t know what to do with the things that are pulling you in different directions. Then find the trust to really truly pray for God’s will to happen rather than your will. And if you can do this an amazing thing will happen.

If you cast your anxiety on God, you can let the amygdala stop running on overdrive. That tape loop you have been playing in your head about all those fear and worries can stop long enough for the rest of your brain to kick into gear. Then God can deal with that higher brain self he created to deal more creatively with the real problems of your life instead of all that stuff you’ve been worrying about.

You see this is where expensive therapy could get you. Therapy can get you to stop listening to your amygdala all the time, which can function like a reptilian brain at worst and an inner two year old at best. Therapy would do this by trying to find out what your underlying fear is and then controlling or eliminating that source of fear. That works and if you can’t follow Peter’s prescription for casting your cares on God a trained counselor can help you get there too.

The point you want to reach is of being a non-anxious presence in anxious times. If you can cast your anxiety on him and get your lower brain to listen long enough, then you can become the non-anxious presence you need in your own life and that your husband or wife needs in your marriage, that your kids need in your house and your boss wants on the job. A non-anxious person is not one with no anxiety, but is someone who has conquered the worst effects of the anxiety and can be present in anxious times and not fear the anxiety nor crank up everyone else’s fears.

To become the non-anxious presence God created you to be, give your fear to God, be humble enough to admit that you don’t have the answers, and cast all your anxiety on our loving God, because he cares for you.

Amen.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:50 pm

Not...This is such a beautiful, inspirational message...And I know this to be true...Thanks so much for sharing this with us...May God Bless You!!!!!

not · Post by **not** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:19 pm

You are so welcome!

Barb G. · Post by **Barb G.** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:27 pm

Thanks, NOT.
That was really, really worth reading.
Very good.
MaryJane

PHILLYKISER · Post by **PHILLYKISER** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:08 pm

thank you that was great!!!!

atlantamiami · Post by **atlantamiami** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:57 am

I have read many of those things separately, and some of those things together. Intellectually (and occassionally from practice) I have experienced the peace that comes from true humility. However, without a doubt, one of my biggest stressors is my pride. It is my pride that drives practically all of my anxieties and depression. It is the driving force behind my "Shoulds" and, even after I have known this, I have still ventured on with my heavy load of a pride that I have, and it has given me immense amounts of stress and grief. Herein lies the heart of my stress, anxiety and depression. So, what I have done to relive stress while continuing to desire my lofty goals, is to move slowly towards my goal - at a rate I can achieve it. When I go any faster, anxiety and depression kicks in. But, when I look at the wait as too wearing or arduous, anxiety kicks in again. Therefore, sometimes I believe I need to throw caution into the wind and just go for my goal at the risk of increasing my debt. Then, the debt stress kicks in. It seems like a vicious cycle. Then I tell myself, if I could only wait a little longer, I coud make it happen. And, so, that is where I am. Trying to let go of control, while I get through the required work at my own pace, in the hopes that the money will come when it is all done. Anyway, the sermon was great. I must continue to humble myself to the reality that I do not have all of the solutions. And, it is also important that I love myself in the process.

GOD HEALS · Post by **GOD HEALS** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:26 pm

I've always had anxiety and have read over & over the scriptures about it, giving problems to God and trying not to worry about them as we are told to do. Thanks for your message, it reinforces that God will take care of us and if we can leave things with him our bodies that he created can be healed.

luvpiggy · Post by **luvpiggy** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:59 am

Thank you so much for post that wonderful message not:)! It was just what I needed to read today! I've never been exposed to such an informed and compassionate sermon on anxiety:). Most I have heard contain, "Anxiety is a sin!", and I'm like "What about when you step on a cotton head snake?" I actually did that once as a teenager and lived to tell. For some reason, it couldn't reach back and bite me. I just stepped on it with my boot on and stood there not knowing. I looked at my dad who pulled out his gun and shot in my direction, but he was shooting the snake. Talk about God's protection! My verse today in my devotinal was "God will give you the authority to trample on snakes! Nothing will harm you." What a coincidence to read the message you posted today with the reference to cotton head snakes!:)

Anyway, most sermons that I have heard are so condemning on the topic so it just really helps my faith to see that a pastor has so much insight and it was just so validating. Yesterday, I visited an acquaintance who is battling a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. She had a bone marrow transplant last year and was doing so well, but it came back a few months ago and now she's preparing to die. I was in a much better place with my anxiety, so I was able to visit her. However, it is hard to know how to feel. Reading your message has just really given me peace, and yes, I'm sneaking in a request for prayer for Jill:) from all of you wonderful people on this forum:).

God bless you all,
luvpiggy

Gman5256 · Post by **Gman5256** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:34 am

Hi all,

Thanks not! You have all read it, you have all heard or received it! Now apply it.

It was very eloquently and incisively put; but many, on this site and our everyday walk, don't even want to hear, let alone act with this authority.

This message has to be repeated over, and over, and over, until it sinks in to the very core of the reader. Otherwise, learning something and not putting it into action renders the advice useless, and soon forgotten.

Indeed this is a weapon that has been formed that will return prosperous against the very disorders that so many find themselves struggling with here.

It is essential for us to understand and use this understanding, and pass it along to others so that they will be equipped with exacting power over their circumstances. Mark these words and verse citations and use it with authority, boldness, humility and Love!

I have copied and pasted the entire sermon and will include the thread link to this account.

Thanks again Not!