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Stop It

StopItBlog

An old Comedy Central skit features Bob Newhart as a therapist. He meets a new client who suffers from the fear of being buried alive in a box. Newhart drops some forceful, two-word therapy on her: “Stop it!” As you can imagine, the session ends as poorly as it started. Newhart warns his client, “Stop it! Or I’ll bury you alive in a box!”

The skit is hilarious, garnering millions of views on YouTube, but this approach many people take in addressing anxiety is no laughing matter. I can’t imagine a biblical counselor scheduling a five minute session with a client and leaving her with the words, “just stop it.” But I can imagine an anxious client who has been conditioned by hearing only the following admonition or prohibition: “Don’t be anxious,” or, “Stop being anxious.” 

Nevertheless, those words come straight from the Bible. Jesus spoke them. And Paul wrote them to the Philippian church in Asia-minor. So, should we reduce help for anxious believers to a milder form of “Just stop it!”? The answer is no. 

Anxiety was not part of God’s good creation. But along with fear, anxiety can help us discover powerful forces that drive our behavior and shape our outlook on life. In that sense, they are helpful. However, they also cripple and destroy. That’s why Jesus and Paul (and other New Testament writers) tell us to leave them behind.   

With Jesus and Paul, the words “Don’t be anxious” are not isolated commands without context. Like other instructions in the Bible, they arrive in a package. So when we unwrap them, let’s not throw out those parts that may seem less significant.  

Commanding your feelings (anxiety and fear for example) to cease and desist is a tall order to pull off without substantial help. And that’s precisely what God offers us—if we’re listening. Philippians 4 has served anxious people for a long time. But I’m convinced many people neglect powerful realities from that passage because of an unfortunate numbering decision by the translators.   

Check out verse six: “Do not be anxious about anything.” That’s how Paul begins his section on anxiety—or so we’re told. Sounds like a Bob Newhart approach, doesn’t it? But check out verse five. “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.” Sound odd? The NET Bible translates that last part of verse five “The Lord is near!” I like that. It’s accurate. And it drives home the point I’d like to make. The end of verse 5 belongs with the beginning of verse 6. Now read verse 5 and 6 together: 

“The Lord is near! Do not be anxious about anything.” How’s that hit you? Sound like “Just stop it!”? It doesn’t. We have a promise to fuel new thoughts, feelings and behavior. We have the promise of God’s presence. And that’s enough. But Paul gives us even more. We have prayer. We have an alternative for how we think and reflect on our lives. Let that promise from God sink in. “The Lord is near! Be anxious for nothing.” More on that next time…