“Don’t Think The Worst!”
In August 2010, the associated press reported the story of 75-year-old Ron Sveden of Brewster, Mass. He suffered from failing health, difficulty breathing, and aggravated coughing spells. Tests showed “an ominous dark spot” on his lung, which he concluded was probably cancer.
Even though Sveden feared the worst, his doctors told him that the tests were inconclusive and only exploratory surgery would prove definitive. Upon removal of the mass, lab work concluded it was nothing more than an aspirated pea that had sprouted in his lung’s dark, moist environment. Sveden was relieved to know the certain doom he’d anticipated would not come to pass.
I would love to say that I’ve never thought the worst or engaged in negative thoughts about the future, but I have. In 2015, I got sick and lost 30 pounds in three months. Like Sveden, I thought the worst (from severe sickness to death). I even made matters worse by searching the internet and reading articles about my specific symptoms. Whenever I read an article, I would embrace the author’s words and tell my wife (Tia) that I had discovered the cause of my symptoms. Eventually, Tia grew weary of my self-diagnoses and said, “You need to get off that internet because it’s making you think the worst about your situation.” She added, “You’re reading all that stuff on the internet, and your situation may not be any of those things.” My wife knew that I had succumbed to unhealthy anxiety. I thought the worst about something in the future that never became a reality.
Someone offered the following about anxiety:
We have anxiety about—
40% -- things that will never happen
30% -- things about the past that can’t be changed
12% -- things about criticism by others, mostly untrue
10% -- about health, which gets worse with stress
8% -- about real problems that will be faced
Hannah Whitall Smith observed, “Our lives are full of supposes. Suppose this should happen, or suppose that should happen; what could we do; how could we bear it? But, if we live in the high tower of the dwelling place of God, all of these supposes will drop out of our lives. We shall be quiet from the fear of evil, or no threatenings of evil can penetrate the high tower of God.” Anxiety can cause a person to live in the realm of “supposes” that never become a reality or pan out the way we “supposed” them in our mind. Even if we don’t want to admit the truth, we worry about many things that never happen or become a reality.
In Christian Counseling, Gary Collins offers three double anxiety clusters: normal and neurotic, moderate and intense, and state and trait. Collins explains each one as follows:
Cluster 1: Normal anxiety – common to all and happens during a threat or dangerous situation. Neurotic anxiety – “exaggerated feelings of helplessness and dread even when the danger is mild or nonexistent.”
Cluster #2: Moderate anxiety – “can be healthy and serve a useful purpose” by motivating people to “avoid dangerous situations” and increase effectiveness. Intense anxiety – “is more stressful, and it can shorten one’s attention span, make concentration difficult, cause forgetting, hinder performance, interfere with problem solving, block effective communication, arouse panic, and sometimes cause unpleasant physical symptoms such as paralysis and rapid heartbeat, or tense headaches.”
Cluster #3: State anxiety – happens quickly and usually has a short duration. This kind of anxiety is a “relatively brief apprehensive reaction that comes to us from time to time (when giving a speech or taking an exam).” Trait anxiety – “It is a persistent, ever-present, ingrained emotional tension seen in people who appear to worry all the time.” Trait anxiety can cause “physical illness because the body cannot function effectively when it remains in a perpetual state of tension and arousal.”
Collins proposed that we must understand the biblical teachings about anxiety that can be summarized into two main categories: 1) “Anxiety in the form of realistic concern” is neither condemned nor forbidden. 2) “Anxiety as fret and worry” is what Jesus taught His disciples to eradicate from their lives. This teaching was the foundation of R. C. Sproul’s poignant comments about anxiety when he said, “Christ told His disciples not to be anxious about tomorrow, but He never said not to consider tomorrow. Intelligent problem solving demands careful consideration for the future effects of present solutions.”
Some Christians think living in a trouble-free tomorrow is the key to overcoming anxiety. For those who can potentially overcome their form of anxiety (NB: some people need long-term medication and medical care), John Stott stated, the “Christian’s freedom from anxiety is not due to some guaranteed freedom from trouble, but to the folly of worry and especially to the confidence that God is Father, that even permitted suffering is within the orbit of His care.” A life without problems is not realistic. However, life with God as the central hub for every resource needed to overcome the anxiety that causes us to think the worst about the future is realistic. For this concept to become a reality, we must abandon our “self-reliance and preoccupation with our own life pressures” (Collins).
In 1 Peter 5:7, Peter instructed believers to do the following: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” Giving our anxiety to God is never easy because it requires trusting Him instead of ourselves (Prov. 3:5-6). Whenever we give our anxieties to God, we lessen the potential to be anxious and think the worst about the future. Instead of thinking the worst, by faith (2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 11:6), we can hope for the best and believe in God to produce a positive outcome. Consequently, do your best to give God all your anxieties. Remember: “Don’t Think The Worst!”