You have a
choice. You can be miserable, upset and full of angst or you can
free yourself from the anxiety that is abundant in this world. If
that is true, then why are so many of us miserable, upset and full of
angst?
You
would think we would do anything to stop the misery. Yet we often
remain trapped in a cycle of upset for years that turns into decades. The
same reason that the world has so many miserable traps is the same reason we do
not have to remain in our pits. Volition, free will, is the reason
we get trapped by misery or become set free.
The
Garden of Gethsemane preaches this lesson most profoundly. Jesus
used His human will to escape His misery even though it meant submitting to the
cross. Being asked to take on the sins of the entire world was as
miserable a circumstance as anyone has ever faced. Most of us have a
limit to the evil in the world that we have to go through; but
not Jesus. Personally, I will accept my own tragedies as
compared with those of others I know. Jesus’ task was to
take on all the misery each of us personally knows and multiply that
by an infinite number--the number of evil acts from the creation of the
world until the day that all things are made new. We can’t even
imagine the reality of misery that Jesus was contemplating that evening He
prayed in the garden. He was asked to focus on God’s will
rather than His own will; He had to believe that God’s goodness was
greater than the evil that weighed down His heart. This is what God
asks of each one of us.
Anxiety
is a gift to alert us to the dangers of this world. Chronic anxiety
is a plague for the soul that sickens and weakens our spiritual resolution. That
is why Paul wrote: Do not be anxious about
anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6). Paul is not
saying don’t be startled when you see a snake. Your anxious feeling
is legitimate and good as it alerts you to danger and helps you respond
quickly. Paul is talking about that sense of misery, upset and
anxiety about your daily life in this world. This world is full of
circumstances that create anxiety. No one reading this devotional is
free of anxiety-producing circumstances. Yet we Christians
are instructed to let anxiety be a signal to pray. Jesus’ life
demonstrated this instruction. When the time came for Him to move
forward to the task He had been sent to earth to fulfill, He was plagued with
anxiety in His body, mind and spirit just like us. His anxiety was
so great that His body demonstrated an unusual reaction to extreme stress.
He not only produced sweat but also sweat mingled with
blood. His mind was focused on the seeming impossibility of the task
before Him—taking on the whole world
of sin. It made Him ask God for
another way. It was His Spirit that saved Him from sinking into the
angst of His reality. His Spirit connected deeply with
God’s Spirit; and, though He could not see it for Himself, He trusted
in God’s goodness. He set His will on doing God’s will and not His
own.
He
got up and walked purposely into ambush that led to the
cross. The circumstances that He dreaded were not going to be
alleviated; in fact, they would intensify exponentially in the coming
hours. Jesus had a peace that passes understanding because He set
His will on following God’s will. He prayed and petitioned and
presented His request to God and with thanksgiving accepted God’s answer of
“No.” This will holds the power to choose anxiety or
peace. What will you choose today?
Copyright © 2018. Deborah R
Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights Reserved.
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