Month: August 2021
We think anxiety is a fairly new problem with which to deal. We talk about anxiety disorders and it’s not uncommon to see commercials on television or ads in magazines touting the benefits of this anti-anxiety medication or that one. In short, anxiety is in front of us in a way it wasn’t forty or more years ago.
Yet, anxiety is a timeless condition. Jesus spoke about not worrying in a passage that is quite familiar to me–and, in fact, one I include in Finding Peace. Imagine my surprise when I found another word on preventing anxiety, this time in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes is from the body of Old Testament wisdom literature, presumably written by Solomon. We sometimes joke that the theme of the book is the meaninglessness of everything. Life is meaningless. Death is meaningless. Work is meaningless. Laziness is meaningless. “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “All is meaningless!”
What isn’t so meaningless, though, is finding joy in the every day. The Teacher says, “Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun–all your meaningless days” (Eccl. 9:8-9a, NIV). The lesson here is to make the most of each day. Be present in each day. This is a command; “Do this,” the Teacher says.
I love a good three-point argument, and the Teacher doesn’t disappoint. First, he says “always wear white.” Get dressed in clean clothes. Don’t be slouching around in your pajamas and grungy clothes every day. Second, the Teacher instructs his students to anoint their heads with oil. This was a basic grooming and hygiene practice for this time period. It would be the like the modern-day equivalent of washing and styling your hair. In other words, take care of your body. Last, he says, “Enjoy life with your wife, who you love.” Be mindful and intentional of your relationships. Enjoy them, not just life with your spouse but also your children, your grandchildren, your circle of friends who are like family. Live into the moments with them because those moments are so short.
In the New Testament, we encounter a different rabbi, a different but no less wise teacher. We see Jesus and hear his instructions. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), we see Jesus telling his listeners how to live. His teachings have two main foci: Authentic faith living and not being wrapped up in temporal concerns. In the second part of chapter 6, Jesus tells his listeners to look around them, to see the flowers and birds. God takes care of them, so would not God take even better care of God’s own children? The birds don’t stress about working and never go hungry; they always have enough. The wildflowers that are so beautiful–even more beautiful than Solomon in all his royal robes, Jesus says–are tomorrow’s fire fuel. God makes them look that good, so God will also attend to our bodies’ needs for clothing.
Then Jesus gives a command, this time a “don’t.” “Don’t worry about tomorrow,” he instructs, “for tomorrow will take care of itself. Today’s got enough worries of its own for you to deal with” (Mt. 6:34). We don’t feel anxious about what’s going on now because we’re experiencing it in this moment. Anxieties come when we start fretting about some future event or concern. Will we be able to afford that new hot water heater? How will we pay for our child’s college? What if no one at the reunion talks to me? These are legit, real concerns, and many people struggle with them.
What Jesus is saying here is, “Be present to today.” A few verses before this one, Jesus asks, “Who of you can add one inch to his height by worrying?” We can’t. Worries, stresses, anxieties–however you want to label what you’re feeling and going through–do not benefit us in any way and, in fact, rob us of what joy we can find in today. My husband and I are in that “How are we going to pay for that new HVAC system?” season of anxiety. It’s hotter than Satan’s arm pit outside and our air conditioner chooses now to act up. If I were to spend all my time fretting about this very ugly reality, then I would forget to pay the here-and-now bills, feel too overwhelmed to want to shop for groceries, and be completely unable to show up for my girls. These are all of today’s concerns and responsibilities, and they are what require my attention now. As I live into these things, guess what happens? I manage to let go of some anxiety. The HVAC is still an issue. However, by following this simple command of Jesus, I have changed how anxious I feel.
However you choose to live into today, do it. Be present to every minute. Show up for yourself in ways both small and big–everything from getting dressed in the mornings to working out. Show up for others and be present in your relationships with them. Focus on the now instead of the uncertain future. These will all help you beat anxiety.
Categories
Health Sacrificed to Idols
We Americans are selfish. We’re selfish in our rugged individualism. Don’t need no one, don’t want to be beholden to anyone, don’t wanna take care of no one. Even American evangelicalism with its emphasis on one’s personal relationship with Christ is an extension of the American idol of individualism.
We see this same idolatry of the individual in how people are responding to vaccinations and new mask mandates. “Don’t take away my freedom!” they cry. Or, “My body, my choice!” Conspiracy theories abound about the supposed lack of safety in the vaccine or crazy ideas of Bill Gates planting nanochips in people through the vaccine. (Do you really think Gates doesn’t have anything better to do?) What’s the point of getting the vaccine, they argue, if you can still catch the virus? Or, if masks worked, there wouldn’t still be people getting sick. Thing is, masks are like parachutes; they’re not worth much if you leave them in the bag.
This is so disparate from how the Bible tells us Christians are supposed to live. (I’m not being exclusive toward nontheists, but they know to get vaccinated and to wear masks, so it’d be like preaching to the choir.) While we are certainly free from death through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we have freedom in Christ, that freedom is very different from the way we understand freedom here in America. Paul writes in Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Compassion… Kindness… Humility… These are not “me first” character traits. These are “others first” traits. We are to wrap ourselves up in these traits, allowing them to cover us completely, just like our clothes do.
In I Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul is talking about food sacrificed to idols. A little background information… Corinth was at the crossroads of the western trading world. A busy port city, it had a very religiously diverse population, but being that it was in Greece, the Greek deities were a significant part of that. Worshipers of these various gods and goddesses would offer meat as part of their sacrifices then eat it there in the temple. The Christian sect of Judaism (as it was known in the first century) was brand new to Corinth and it wasn’t uncommon for a convert to Christ to have dinner with his Poseidon-worshiping buddy. Paul cautions this convert to be careful, though. If the new believer sees him eating this meat sacrificed to Poseidon, then that believer may think it is okay to cross over on the faith practices.
Paul warns against causing this weaker brother to stumble in his faith. It was legal under the law for Yahweh worshipers to dine with Poseidon worshipers. It was permissible under this new church’s mandates for that table fellowship to happen, too. In other words, by all authorities, both civil and religious, Christians had the freedom and the right to eat meat sacrificed to the Greek gods. BUT… They were called to give up that personal freedom and that right in order to exercise their freedom in Christ and their obligation to protect the faith walk of their younger brother in Christ.
Though Paul is speaking of denying ourselves in order to protect the spiritual walk of one who’s spiritually weaker, we can certainly take that same message and apply it to how we Christ followers should act in regards to our brothers and sisters in community who might be physically weaker. What would you be willing to give up in order to protect someone else who may not be able to protect their self? Jesus says in John we’re supposed to sacrifice our very lives for others, and yet many folks won’t get a little shot or don a mask for the wellbeing of others. Paul writes later in that chapter, “If what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall” (I Cor. 8:13, NIV).
Paul is willing to give up eating meat in order to prevent a sibling in the faith from stumbling in their faith walk. (Bible historians believe that most meat available for consumption had been sacrificed to a deity.) What are you willing to give up in order to prevent a weaker member of your community, a person also created in the image of God, from falling ill and possibly dying? Can you give up your pride, your rugged individualism, your idea of your “rights” and “freedoms”? Can you take a moment to think about all the people your decision impacts? What if it’s your unvaccinated child who gets sick and dies in the hospital because you refuse to wear a mask out in public? What if you inadvertently pass the virus to another adult who unknowingly infects their immunocompromised child, and that child ends up on a ventilator? What if all these hospital beds are full of Covid patients when your mom has a stroke and has to be transported 200 miles away to the next nearest hospital with available space?
So many people are willing to sacrifice health to the idols of civil freedoms and individualism. The Christ way, though, cares neither for civil freedoms or your individualism. The Jesus way says, “Be free in me and love one another as I have loved you.” The Jesus way emphasizes community and tending to that community. Again, it goes back to that “love one another.” Do you think the Good Samaritan was overjoyed about delaying his journey and making the financial sacrifice to tend to the beaten man? No, but he did it. He did it because he knew that the way of compassion is the right way. Getting a shot and donning a mask demonstrate the compassion of Jesus. It shows love. It shows that you worship God above all else.
I entreat you to make the compassionate choice. It has never been about you anymore than it’s been about me. My twelve-year-old, half-vaxxed little girl who I adore is my reason for masking. Traveling out of state with my fully vaxxed teen is why my clothes drying rack is currently wearing about fifteen masks–and that twelve-year-old is why we will suck up wearing masks in nearly 100 degree weather. It’s about keeping others safe. Always.
Who can you protect from illness, hospitalization, and possible death this week?
