Personally speaking, I am not sure I have lived through a time in my life that could have caused more anxiety and restlessness. Considering everything that has happened in the past year or so, I feel like I should have imploded because of panic and stress. On top of my own personal challenges and responsibilities like providing for my family, keeping in touch with church members, and preparing to preach every week, everything that has been happening in the public sphere has exacerbated my stress. The COVID-19 global pandemic, social and political unrest, conspiracy theories and insurrections, all have contributed to the stress and anxiety that burdens myself and my loved ones.
How do we respond to this? How do we live through an age of anxiety?
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Jesus is teaching the disciples about the kingdom of heaven and what the people of the kingdom of heaven are like. However, he does so in a way that distinguishes the citizens of the kingdom of heaven from the citizens of the kingdoms of the world.
In the back half of chapter 6 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus confronts our anxieties caused by daily needs. He says this:
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Jesus distinguishes those in the kingdom of heaven from those of the world (Gentiles) by speaking about the things that they ‘seek after’. The world seeks after things for the life and body but God’s children, those in the kingdom of heaven, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. They seek after God’s will to be done in this world and, in so doing, the life and body are taken care of. Our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things and he graciously provides. Therefore, we do not need to be anxious about these things.
What really ties this altogether is verse 34, the final verse of chapter 6:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.“
There’s a story in the book of Exodus about the Israelites as they left Egypt. They are wandering in the wilderness and they grew hungry and complained to Moses. So Moses relays the message and the Lord provides bread from heaven along with instruction: collect enough for you and your family every day. On the 6th day (the day before the Sabbath), collect a double portion and do not go out into the fields to collect on the Sabbath.
The Israelites, however, did not listen. They collected enough for the day but then they would save some of it for the next day. However, the bread that they saved for the next day rotted and stank up the camp. Furthermore, they were to collect a double portion on the 6th day so that they would not break the Sabbath the next day, and yet they went out to the fields to collect on the Sabbath instead of resting like they were supposed to!
I think these thoughts help illustrate a few things that can help us engage the age of anxiety we live in:
- Our heavenly Father provides new grace for every day. Like the Israelites who saved up their daily bread for the next day only to have it rot away, we need to remember that there’s no need to save up today’s grace for tomorrow’s troubles. Our heavenly Father desires for us to daily depend on Him. Receive today’s grace by faith today and embrace it to seek after his kingdom and his righteousness today. When we do, we can freely rest in him and worship him knowing that he has graciously provided all that we need.
- The rest we find in Jesus distinguishes the kingdom of heaven from the kingdoms of the world. I think it is easy to romanticize the world before COVID-19 and before the insurrection and maybe even before President Donald Trump. But the reality is we have had plenty of other stressors and anxieties before all of that. Nothing has changed except now we have to wear masks in public. But the kingdom of heaven hasn’t changed either. And in the kingdom of heaven, we have a king who gives rest to his people as he takes on the burdens of the world. This rest we have because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is what should characterize those of us who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
- Freedom from anxiety and heavenly provision serves as a glorious witness to the world about the character and nature of God. In an age of anxiety where people are not sure whether they will be employed for much longer, whether their business is going to be shut down by the pandemic or set on fire by protestors, if their kids are going to make it to the next grade because they haven’t been showing up to online classes, when there’s a gathered group of people who somehow have peace and rest in the midst of all those troubles and challenges, it sticks out like a sore thumb. It doesn’t mean this group of people aren’t struggling through those same challenges, it’s that somehow they persevere and make it through and still manage to live day by day with joy and dependence on something other than government stimulus checks. This is how the Church can be a witness about the wisdom and power of God. The Church can be salt and light in an age of anxiety, testifying to the provision of a gracious heavenly Father and the rest they have in a crucified Savior King.
The thing about the kingdom of heaven is that it is a present glimpse of a future reality. Today, we must fight anxiety by resting in the work of Christ, but in the future the fight will be over and we will know eternal Rest. Today, we must seek his kingdom and his righteousness, but in the future his kingdom will be consummated and his righteousness found. Today, our challenges both private and public may cripple us but in the future all will healed.
So, in the end, until the future age of the kingdom of heaven finally begins when our Savior King returns, there’s only one way to live through this age of anxiety: day by day.
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