Biblical Solutions to Worry

Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.
—Ephesians 6:14

As we look at how to win over worry, let’s consider some biblical solutions to worry in our life.

One way to deal with worry is to repent of known sin. The word “repent” means to have a change of mind that leads to a change of action. If our anxiety is due to a wrong value system or wrong actions, then we need to change what we are doing. For example, maybe as you think about the things you fear most, it reveals that you are building your life around temporary things. For you, repentance means to confess that sin to God and focus on the eternal. Colossians 3:2 says to us, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Perhaps some of you need to change a behavior that is contrary to the Word of God and causing you to fear God’s discipline. Don’t confuse God’s mercy with God’s tolerance. Just because God hasn’t brought judgment into your life yet doesn’t mean He’s not going to. He’s just giving you perhaps one last chance to turn around, to repent.

Another way to win over worry is to remove unnecessary fear. Many of the things we worry about can be easily dealt with by confronting the source of our fears. Sometimes we are anxious about things we know we should be doing but we just don’t do them. For example, maybe you know you ought to go to the dentist, but you are afraid of what he might find, so you put it off. You can postpone your appointment, but you can’t postpone your fear. You have a low-grade nagging feeling that something is wrong. Or perhaps you know you ought to reconcile your bank statement, but you don’t want to find out you really have less money than you think you do; so you just keep putting that off. In the back of your mind is the worry that maybe your next check is going to bounce. Deal with things instead of postponing them.

There are three words that will remove much of the anxiety in your life: “Do it now.” Do you have a difficult letter to write? Do it now. Do you have a telephone call you need to make? Do it now. Do you have an appointment you know you need to make? Do it now.

In Ephesians 6:14, Paul says, “Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.” What is he talking about? The most basic part of clothing for a Roman soldier was the tunic, which was a free-flowing garment. But if you went into battle, you might trip over your tunic or the enemy could grab hold of it and gain an advantage. So every soldier knew before he went into battle he would have to take that loose tunic and tuck it into his belt. And that’s what Paul is talking about here. When any worries come into our minds, we need to tuck them into the belt of truth–that is, the truth of God’s Word. There’s something powerful about confronting our fears with truth.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Winning over Worry” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.