As a Christian, there are some hard things to deal with
because you feel like you shouldn’t be having issues with them at all if you truly
love and trust God. Some of these things include anxiety, stress, fear, and depression.
Although I can’t speak personally to long-term struggles with issues outside of
fear, I have still dealt with many of them for brief periods throughout my life,
and just like forgiveness, it is much easier said than done to just trust God.
Today’s topic is stress.
I hold most of my stress in my muscles. I clench my jaw and
get tight shoulders. It also often turns to anger if I don’t do something to
vent that stress that builds up like a shuddering tea kettle of water about to
whistle. While I know that many say, “Just pray about it,” when it comes to
basically everything (and that is true) it is sometimes hard to do. We are
finite beings that understand the tangible things of the world much more than
the intangible. You certainly should go to God as your counselor and your
confidant whom you vent to, but let’s discuss physical stress relief and
efforts of time management/right priorities first.
1. Take care of your physical body. (1
Cor 6:19)
We need to care for our bodies because God created us and we are called to care for all creation and respect the sanctity of life, including our own. Also, when our bodies are well cared for, we feel better. We have more energy, less bloating, less pain, we stay regular, and we deal with stress better. Exercise releases endorphins, a healthy diet paired with exercise also helps your body better fight off sickness. Why would we not want to do these things? Obviously, it isn’t that easy, but I would also add that there really isn’t a difference between abusing a drug and abusing food. How is smoking different than eating in excess? Both are bad for your health in the short term and long term. (see Prv 23:19-20)
This should really be the physical baseline of how to deal with stress. As our physical and spiritual health are the two most important things for our survival and quality of life on this earth, we need to care for both. Yes, the spiritual is decidedly more important, but James writes, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (Jas 2:15-16) So just as it is vital that we minister to the physical needs of others, we must also minister to our own physical needs.
We need to care for our bodies because God created us and we are called to care for all creation and respect the sanctity of life, including our own. Also, when our bodies are well cared for, we feel better. We have more energy, less bloating, less pain, we stay regular, and we deal with stress better. Exercise releases endorphins, a healthy diet paired with exercise also helps your body better fight off sickness. Why would we not want to do these things? Obviously, it isn’t that easy, but I would also add that there really isn’t a difference between abusing a drug and abusing food. How is smoking different than eating in excess? Both are bad for your health in the short term and long term. (see Prv 23:19-20)
This should really be the physical baseline of how to deal with stress. As our physical and spiritual health are the two most important things for our survival and quality of life on this earth, we need to care for both. Yes, the spiritual is decidedly more important, but James writes, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (Jas 2:15-16) So just as it is vital that we minister to the physical needs of others, we must also minister to our own physical needs.
2. Find something that helps you relieve stress in the moment.
For me, this is often playing my drums, listening to music, or writing poetry. I would especially highlight that poetry and prayer can be closely connected, and if you read through many of the Psalms, you will discover that they often begin with little hope or are full of exasperation, but they end with rejoicing. That is how poetry and/or prayer often works for me as well. If that is your choice for quick stress relief, make sure you are honest in your poetry.
Other options may work in some situations and not others. Like if running helps you relieve stress, you can’t just skip out of work to go for a run. If screaming at the top of your lungs is a release, you probably shouldn’t do that in public.
A Forbes article (http://bit.ly/2GLDLYo) offers some suggestions that include deep breathing (because the increased oxygen promotes calmness), visualizing your happy place (think Peter Pan), laughing, and engaging your senses (such as looking at family photos or putting on scented hand lotion). Any number of these things could be useful to have in your toolbox for dealing with stress in the short-term.
For me, this is often playing my drums, listening to music, or writing poetry. I would especially highlight that poetry and prayer can be closely connected, and if you read through many of the Psalms, you will discover that they often begin with little hope or are full of exasperation, but they end with rejoicing. That is how poetry and/or prayer often works for me as well. If that is your choice for quick stress relief, make sure you are honest in your poetry.
Other options may work in some situations and not others. Like if running helps you relieve stress, you can’t just skip out of work to go for a run. If screaming at the top of your lungs is a release, you probably shouldn’t do that in public.
A Forbes article (http://bit.ly/2GLDLYo) offers some suggestions that include deep breathing (because the increased oxygen promotes calmness), visualizing your happy place (think Peter Pan), laughing, and engaging your senses (such as looking at family photos or putting on scented hand lotion). Any number of these things could be useful to have in your toolbox for dealing with stress in the short-term.
3. Get your priorities in order (Dt
6:4-5; Mt
10:37)
"Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Dt 6:4-5).
God first. Period. This means spending time with Him, it means loving your spouse and children. It means taking care of orphans and widows. It means serving others, lifting others up, and giving encouragement. It means spreading the Gospel. It is so many things, but God comes first. I also encourage you to not think of life as balanced, but as Matt Perman suggests in his book What’s Best Next, think of a centered life. Jesus should be the center of your life, your driving purpose, your all in all.
I am in no way claiming that when you do this you will rid your life of difficulty and stress. No way! Jesus says we will face persecution (Mt 10:22) Paul also speaks of persecution (2 Tm 3:12), and persecution can certainly be stressful. Plus, we live in a fallen world. The Christian life is not easy, it is not safe, but it has the ultimate reward, and I do believe that God will help you with your struggles and bless you when you put Him first.
"Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Dt 6:4-5).
God first. Period. This means spending time with Him, it means loving your spouse and children. It means taking care of orphans and widows. It means serving others, lifting others up, and giving encouragement. It means spreading the Gospel. It is so many things, but God comes first. I also encourage you to not think of life as balanced, but as Matt Perman suggests in his book What’s Best Next, think of a centered life. Jesus should be the center of your life, your driving purpose, your all in all.
I am in no way claiming that when you do this you will rid your life of difficulty and stress. No way! Jesus says we will face persecution (Mt 10:22) Paul also speaks of persecution (2 Tm 3:12), and persecution can certainly be stressful. Plus, we live in a fallen world. The Christian life is not easy, it is not safe, but it has the ultimate reward, and I do believe that God will help you with your struggles and bless you when you put Him first.
Now we shall turn to prayer, thanksgiving, meditation, and
finding rest in Jesus. This is the spiritual side of stress management. It can
be in the moment, but it also needs to be the foundation.
1. Prayer (Phi
4:6-7)
Talk to God about your stress. Maybe you are stressed because you have told your child ten times in a row to not stand on the couch, you have repeatedly disciplined him and made him get down, yet he did it AGAIN. Maybe it is that you chipped your tooth and don’t have dental coverage so you don’t know how you are going to pay for getting it fixed. Perhaps a loved one is traveling and the weather is bad so you have some stress and worry regarding her safety. Whatever is causing your stress, do your best to release it and give it to God. Sometimes it is hard to do.
My first year at Evangel University, I had to take a course called Essential Christianity. My instructor, Professor Dwight Colbaugh (the father of Sara Groves), gave us an exercise in class one day (it may even have been the first day), to think of something that we’ve been holding onto. Whether that be stress, bitterness, unforgiveness, depression, or anxiety; anything that we have not given to God. After locating that thing in our mind, he told us to picture ourselves lifting that thing up and laying it at the feet of God. So, find that thing, and lay it down at God’s throne. He can handle it, He can handle any and everything we give to Him, so let Him.
Talk to God about your stress. Maybe you are stressed because you have told your child ten times in a row to not stand on the couch, you have repeatedly disciplined him and made him get down, yet he did it AGAIN. Maybe it is that you chipped your tooth and don’t have dental coverage so you don’t know how you are going to pay for getting it fixed. Perhaps a loved one is traveling and the weather is bad so you have some stress and worry regarding her safety. Whatever is causing your stress, do your best to release it and give it to God. Sometimes it is hard to do.
My first year at Evangel University, I had to take a course called Essential Christianity. My instructor, Professor Dwight Colbaugh (the father of Sara Groves), gave us an exercise in class one day (it may even have been the first day), to think of something that we’ve been holding onto. Whether that be stress, bitterness, unforgiveness, depression, or anxiety; anything that we have not given to God. After locating that thing in our mind, he told us to picture ourselves lifting that thing up and laying it at the feet of God. So, find that thing, and lay it down at God’s throne. He can handle it, He can handle any and everything we give to Him, so let Him.
2. Praise and give thanks to God (Ps
118:1-7)
This may be hard to do if you are stressed or worried, but just try praising God. Give thanks for the beauty of creation or for the wonder of how the body functions. Thank Him for loving you even though He knows every thought you’ve ever had. Give praise that the deciding blow against the enemy has already been delivered, and the ongoing battle does not decide your eternal fate. Give praise through the pain and stress of life, sometimes it can be amazingly freeing because it shifts your focus from bad to good.
This may be hard to do if you are stressed or worried, but just try praising God. Give thanks for the beauty of creation or for the wonder of how the body functions. Thank Him for loving you even though He knows every thought you’ve ever had. Give praise that the deciding blow against the enemy has already been delivered, and the ongoing battle does not decide your eternal fate. Give praise through the pain and stress of life, sometimes it can be amazingly freeing because it shifts your focus from bad to good.
3. Meditate on God’s Word (Dt
6:4-9; Ps
1; Phil
4:8)
As with praise and thanksgiving, meditating on God’s Word can shift your focus. It helps to make clear that God’s got it. Since the fall of man, we have been destroying ourselves with folly and evil, but since that time, God has put forth a plan of redemption. Now we live in a time where we get a glimpse of the kingdom of God without being to fully realize the true glory of His kingdom (often known as “already, not yet”), but we also get to live with the concrete hope of eternity with Him. Meditate then, on His law, His glory, His love and forgiveness. See how His plan of redemption was woven throughout history and how time and again man gives up on Him, but He never gives up on man.
Side Note: Memorizing Scripture can make meditating on Scripture easier while you are at work, shopping, lying down to sleep, or any other number of activities where you cannot have a Bible spread out in front of you.
As with praise and thanksgiving, meditating on God’s Word can shift your focus. It helps to make clear that God’s got it. Since the fall of man, we have been destroying ourselves with folly and evil, but since that time, God has put forth a plan of redemption. Now we live in a time where we get a glimpse of the kingdom of God without being to fully realize the true glory of His kingdom (often known as “already, not yet”), but we also get to live with the concrete hope of eternity with Him. Meditate then, on His law, His glory, His love and forgiveness. See how His plan of redemption was woven throughout history and how time and again man gives up on Him, but He never gives up on man.
Side Note: Memorizing Scripture can make meditating on Scripture easier while you are at work, shopping, lying down to sleep, or any other number of activities where you cannot have a Bible spread out in front of you.
4. Jesus as Sabbath Rest (Mt
11:28-30)
God instructed man to rest one day a week. Rest is vital, but we also can find rest in Jesus. Abide in Christ and find your rest in Him. Part of this is possible because we cast our cares on Him. Jesus says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” (Mt 11:30). A yoke is used to connect two animals to make a burden more manageable, and that is what Christ does for us. He bears our burdens with us. He became man to die the death we deserve, you can’t bear someone’s burden more than He has.
The website Got Questions further elucidates the idea of Jesus as sabbath as seen below.
“Another element of the Sabbath day rest which God instituted as a foreshadowing of our complete rest in Christ is that He blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy. Here again we see the symbol of Christ as our Sabbath rest—the holy, perfect Son of God who sanctifies and makes holy all who believe in Him. God sanctified Christ, just as He sanctified the Sabbath day, and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) to be our sacrifice for sin. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.
Jesus can be our Sabbath rest in part because He is "Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). As God incarnate, He decides the true meaning of the Sabbath because He created it, and He is our Sabbath rest in the flesh. When the Pharisees criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus reminded them that even they, sinful as they were, would not hesitate to pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath. Because He came to seek and save His sheep who would hear His voice (John 10:3,27) and enter into the Sabbath rest He provided by paying for their sins, He could break the Sabbath rules. He told the Pharisees that people are more important than sheep and the salvation He provided was more important than rules. By saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), Jesus was restating the principle that the Sabbath rest was instituted to relieve man of his labors, just as He came to relieve us of our attempting to achieve salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only one day, but forever cease our laboring to attain God’s favor. Jesus is our rest from works now, just as He is the door to heaven, where we will rest in Him forever.” https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Sabbath.html
God instructed man to rest one day a week. Rest is vital, but we also can find rest in Jesus. Abide in Christ and find your rest in Him. Part of this is possible because we cast our cares on Him. Jesus says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” (Mt 11:30). A yoke is used to connect two animals to make a burden more manageable, and that is what Christ does for us. He bears our burdens with us. He became man to die the death we deserve, you can’t bear someone’s burden more than He has.
The website Got Questions further elucidates the idea of Jesus as sabbath as seen below.
“Another element of the Sabbath day rest which God instituted as a foreshadowing of our complete rest in Christ is that He blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy. Here again we see the symbol of Christ as our Sabbath rest—the holy, perfect Son of God who sanctifies and makes holy all who believe in Him. God sanctified Christ, just as He sanctified the Sabbath day, and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) to be our sacrifice for sin. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.
Jesus can be our Sabbath rest in part because He is "Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). As God incarnate, He decides the true meaning of the Sabbath because He created it, and He is our Sabbath rest in the flesh. When the Pharisees criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus reminded them that even they, sinful as they were, would not hesitate to pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath. Because He came to seek and save His sheep who would hear His voice (John 10:3,27) and enter into the Sabbath rest He provided by paying for their sins, He could break the Sabbath rules. He told the Pharisees that people are more important than sheep and the salvation He provided was more important than rules. By saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), Jesus was restating the principle that the Sabbath rest was instituted to relieve man of his labors, just as He came to relieve us of our attempting to achieve salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only one day, but forever cease our laboring to attain God’s favor. Jesus is our rest from works now, just as He is the door to heaven, where we will rest in Him forever.” https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Sabbath.html
Stress is difficult and takes many different forms. You must
prepare yourself for the stress of life and have ways to manage stress in the
moment as well. Care for your body and spirit, rest and trust in God, and make
sure you also have a support system that can help you in both arenas.
Other resources on stress:
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