Effort and anxiety are already two guests installed in the emotions of people today. We live at a frenetic pace seeking to obtain the things that the consumer society presents us as necessary to be successful in this society.
We see these diabolical weapons, eagerness and anxiety, subtly introduced into our emotions and ruining our spiritual life at every moment, when we do not have the biblical tools to combat it.
Thus, stress, depression and anxiety make the individual a daily prey that leads them to commit acts that are not in accordance with God’s will, ruining marriages, families and even societies.
The Word of God shows us the nature of these diabolical weapons, their effects and how to combat them, so that we live in peace and fellowship with our Lord and are prepared for every good work. Let us begin:
eagerness and anxiety
Worry and anxiety are feelings of discomfort and worry about the future. The Scriptures indicate that such anxiety is ultimately caused by a lack of trust in God and his purposes. The Word of God tells us what some of the causes of eagerness and anxiety may be:
The Lord Jesus Christ says that some of the causes of eagerness and anxiety are the unbridled attachment to life, food or clothing (Mat. 6.25), tomorrow (Mat 6.34), the cares of this century, the riches and pleasures (Mr. 4.19) and another case, gluttony and drunkenness (Luc 21.34), care for the things of the world and idolatry in marriage (1 Co 7.33).
The Jews themselves were very familiar with this teaching as philosophies of life. In his teachers it was common to teach that a man should face life with a combination of prudence and serenity, in this consisted of success in life. They insisted, for example, that all parents should teach their children a profession; because, they said, not teaching them a profession was teaching them to steal.
They strove to take all the necessary steps to lead a prudent life. But at the same time they said: “Whoever has bread in his basket and says, “What shall I eat tomorrow?” is a man of little faith.”
1.- Eagerness and anxiety are 2 devilish weapons because it degrades us to an animal condition.
We toil through life believing that we are going to preserve it because we seek more food or drink or clothing to satisfy our needs. This in itself is not bad; the bad thing is to do it with an effort that exceeds the limits of the tranquility and trust that we must have in God our Creator and preserver of our life.
He makes us understand the value of life over food and the value of the body over clothing.. Being satisfied with basic needs is important, but not transcendental.
We cannot live with anxiety and worry about what we should eat or how we should dress, because these basic needs do not provide for the soul. Animals also go out daily to seek food and protection, and they receive it from God, who is the one who preserves life. But they do not do it with the excessive eagerness with which humans seek it, that by taking this attitude we are degraded from our confidence in the provision below the birds of the sky.
Here we see the first strategy of the devil, who uses eagerness and anxiety to degrade us to an animal condition and enslave us with concerns for material things that God takes care of.
The Lord Jesus Christ tells us here that we have the concern that even beings created on a scale less than human do not have: The birds of the sky do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns (Mat 6.26).
Man sins because he not only does it, but he worries about doing it excessively, without considering that no matter how hard he tries in these activities, God is the one who gives us food and clothing, and no matter how hard we try to produce more for this, it is God who gives it in its fair measure, according to our need.
The enemy urges us to enslave ourselves on an animal scale and make us think that if we don’t work hard and anxiously for the provisions for life, we are going to suffer consequences for it. The concern for material things reveals the little value that man has to consider God as the giver and preserver of life. This is mistrust and disbelief
We must know that God is the giver of life, and that if we must certainly work and produce to provide for our own needs, only with God’s blessing will we be able to fulfill that condition. That is why we must ask God, like the Our Father, to give us today our daily bread, so that we can learn to depend more and more on our Creator and place our trust in him.
2.- Eagerness and anxiety are 2 devilish weapons because it leads us to a situation of disagreement.
Worry is useless, and also the situation of disagreement with what we have or what we are, or what we want. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us that no matter how many efforts we make, we cannot extend even one step in the walk of our lives. When he speaks of making our height grow by one cubit (45 cms.) It should be taken as the metaphorical expression of lengthening our lives in a portion of time (Mat 6.27).
The man who toils thinks that death steals meaning from his work, and so he tries by his own means to extend life. It is fair to take care of ourselves in our health not to commit excesses, but the extreme is also bad.
We cannot live exclusively to avoid what is inevitable. Today we see people undergoing longevity treatments. They do not seek health in these activities, but extend days to their lives, and even at night their heart does not rest in search of this superfluous solution. This is vanity (Ecl2.23-24).
Effort and anxiety seek to make us feel dissatisfied with what God has given us of life, thus demonstrating our lack of confidence in who is the giver of life, and eternal life, and that in his mercy he has our days numbered for that we come to a happy term through them.
3.- Worry and anxiety are 2 devilish weapons because it makes us doubt our faith in God
In the previous section, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to us about the desire to work to get food. Here he explains a bit more about the dress, not so much to satisfy the lack of nudity, but the concern to show off through the clothing.
He encourages us to look at the beauty of the lilies of the field, an uncultivated wild flower, and which grew with such beauty that not even the glory of King Solomon in terms of his garments was compared to them.
There is no eagerness in her to work in the careful elaboration of her fabrics. However, the Lord points out the temporality of these flowers, which in the end only have a short and ephemeral life, and whose final destination is the oven.
The Lord wants to point out that concern for vanity and fleeting things is not important, because he will do much more important things for us. Today we can watch fashion and haute couture programs and be dazzled by the pomposity of such creations. The enemy sells us as part of our happiness and tranquility to obtain such clothes, and we see how men and women strive to look like them. This is vanity.
The apostle Paul says that believing and faithful women should not dress with ostentatious hairstyles or jewelry, but with modesty and modesty, as befits women who profess godliness, and that men should behave manfully.
Our value before God is much greater than that of the flowers of the field and the birds of the sky. Therefore, we should not strive to try to shine with the false parameters that a vain and superfluous society imposes on us, but rather put our trust in the one who provides us with food and clothing abundantly according to our need (Luke 12.27-30). .
4.- Eagerness and anxiety are 2 devilish weapons because they induce us to take our eyes off the kingdom.
Worry turns people away from God. The enemy achieves that through eagerness and anxiety people become angry or angry, looking for the tendency to do bad under such states of mind (Ps 37.8), they are dejected in their hearts (Pro 12.25) and even if it is once the message of the Word of God has been preached, the desire for the things of the world and the deceitfulness of riches drown out the word of God and it becomes fruitless (Mat 13.22).
In these conditions of eagerness and anxiety, they tend to look for what they want through the fast paths, that is why we see theft, corruption and other things through which people tend to indulge in the pleasures of the world and quickly achieve whatever resources they may be. means that are obtained, even if they are illegal. Of course these are not the fruits that God intends from a person before whom these temptations appear, which cause eagerness and anxiety.
The account of the visit of our Lord Jesus Christ to the two sisters, Martha and Maria, is a tender example of the teachings of Jesus Christ in such situations. While Martha was busy doing the housework, and she even reproached Mary for sitting down to listen to Jesus, the Lord told Martha not to worry, because Mary chose the good part, to listen to the Word of God, and that part will not be taken from him (Luke 10.38-42)
If we saw how eagerness and anxiety drive people away from God, now we are going to see how these diabolical weapons are used by the enemy to compel them to abandon God.
The apostle Paul speaks clearly about it, when he writes to Timothy about those who want to get rich, when he exhorts him that the love of money is the root of all evil, because those who want to get rich fall into the temptation and snare of the devil, in foolish and harmful greeds that plunge men into destruction and perdition, abandoning faith and turning away from God (1 Tim 6.9-10).
Here we see how Satan uses the desire and anxiety for money and causes believers to be separated from God, straying in faith, and following priorities that are not the spiritual ones that the Lord wants us to follow.
Removing God’s gaze also implies being focused on the world. It is to look at material things (Mat 6.25). Begin to worry excessively about the future, and, under the excuse of being prevented, strive to try to solve what has not yet happened.
Remove your gaze from Christ and place it on the pleasures, wealth and banalities that this society offers you (Mar 4.19). Because none of these things bear fruit for eternal life.
We are urged not to worry or be anxious about these things (Luke 12.29), because they show a lack of trust in God and idolatry for the things of the world. So we must guard our hearts from the cares of this life. (Luc 21.34), and focus our gaze on our Lord Jesus Christ, his teachings and his examples.
The weapons to combat eagerness and anxiety
To face the two diabolical weapons that are, the word of God has provided us with at least two spiritual weapons to combat them. Let’s see:
The first is be…