Anxiety happens when we rush into the future. It is the fear that the future will somehow be difficult and painful or something we should fear.

It’s easy to see especially after watching the news, why a fearful future seems highly plausible.

Henri Nouwen offers three thoughts that heighten anxiety and ones we should avoid in our lives.

1. I am what I do.

This places us in a role rather than being a person. When what I do gets threatened or jeopardized, then anxiety can creep in. Work, status, titles, and responsibilities take higher precedence than the truth that we are children of God.

When my worthiness is connected to my identity as a beloved daughter of God, everything is free to be let go or given away.

2. I am what I have.

Watching Dad die, I found it so immediately apparent that nothing lasts. All his treasured mementoes, concern over what to wear, investment in homes or wealth, all gone. Anxiety can arise when we want to hold on tighter.

When our sense of security comes from our bank account, we worry about what could happen if the dollar collapses. What if everything I worked for is taken away?  Instead, Jesus asks us when we feel worried, to consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. They do not, as Wendell Barry noted, “tax their lives with forethought of grief.”  They are fed, beautifully clothed, living and having an abundance without care or worry.

3. I am what others say about me.

I consider how suffering can happen when we identify with labels or words that define us in ways that crush us or inflate us. Shann and I have watched enough Rockumentaries to show how damning hero worship can be. All of us have lived through the painful sting of a harsh word or insulting remark.

Anxiety can arise when we care too much about what others say in contrast to what LOVE says about us. How can we read Psalm 139 and ever care what others say? The God who created the galaxies and countless stars pursues us with love and tenderness.

What about you? Satan not only tempts us to sins that move us away from God, he also tempts us to be anxious and afraid like someone feeling stalked by a lion. This dread immediately leaves when we stand firm in our faith, knowing many are wrestling with anxiety. Consider these incredible comforting words, “after we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, Himself will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.