When you look to Calvary and put your faith in Jesus, you are seeing what God sees - the atoning blood of His Son. He gives us rest in knowing that all our sins are flung into the depths of the sea and remembered no more (Micah 7:19); there is no condemnation for us (Romans 8:1). He gives us rest through His full acceptance of us as His beloved child (2 Corinthians 6:18). We experience rest in our bodies, minds, and emotions as we rest our lives on Jesus' perfectly finished work on the cross.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 NIV
When weighed down by fear and anxiety or buried under the rubble of life, we must avoid the trap of placing our hope in man’s ‘outside-in’ therapeutic ways, which focus on changing our exterior behaviors, thoughts, and resolutions. Instead, we want to look to Jesus in our desperation and wait to experience God’s ‘inside-out’ work of transformation. Only God can lift us up and out of the ashes of life and bring beauty and lasting relief to our hearts and minds; only He can clean and purify us through the power of the cross and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, which leads to godliness.
“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” Matthew 15:17-18 NIV
Man’s wisdom can help describe the many struggles of the human condition. However, it falls short because it mistakenly presupposes that man is inherently good when we are not. There are thousands of treatments from various theoretical foundations and philosophies, which are all rooted in worldly assumptions, such as:
we are in control of our own lives rather than under God’s sovereign hand (Proverbs 16:9).
we are at the center of our lives rather than being turned to the centrality of Christ (Colossians 1:15-17).
when we are weak, we need to be stronger in and of ourselves rather than resting in God’s strength and all-sufficient grace (2 Corinthians 12:9-11).
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
The gospel of grace draws the fearful heart to that which satisfies eternally (Psalm 16:11). As we behold Jesus, our heart conforms to the blessed image of Christ (Romans 8:29). When we meditate on God’s word, the death and resurrection of Jesus, believe and follow the godly counsel of His truth, we become like trees planted by rivers of water, bearing good fruit in season (Psalm 1:2-3).
Question 1: What has it been like for you in the past to manage times of anxiety through your own strength?
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Question 2: Please consider Jeremiah 31:25, ”I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint” in light of the good news of Jesus Christ, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3 NIV). How does seeing Jesus as your Burden Bearer bring relief and rest to your anxious and fearful heart?
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Jesus removes our burden of fear and anxiety and gives us rest at the cross!