Chris Fabry LiveWhat if my cancer comes back? What if my job is downsized? Do you have any worries or anxiety like these? Author and pastor Jonny Ardavanis will join us. He believes freedom from anxiety comes when you lift your gaze to the powerful character of your heavenly Father. Consider the Lilies on our next Chris Fabry Live.
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Consider the Lilies
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Hey, friend, what are you worried about today? What is giving you anxiety? Is it a health related struggle? Is it a relationship concern? Maybe you're worried about your job. Maybe you're worried about how you're going to make it to payday. Our guest today says there is an awful lot of anxiety going around in the younger generation. A third of teenagers have an anxiety disorder. A quarter of young adults have experienced suicidal thoughts in the last three years alone. High school students. This just blew me away. High school students anxiety levels are comparable to those of psychiatric patients in the 1950s. But we're not seeing this only in young people. The largest consumers of antidepressants are women aged 60 and older. So this is a pandemic. Everybody's anxious. Everybody's worried about something. What do you do with it? That's the question we're going to answer today with Johnny Art Evans, who echoes the words of Jesus. Consider the lilies. You have to read that in the King James to get the full weight of those words. I love it. We're going to consider the lilies today at the radio backyard fence. Welcome to Chris Fabry live online. Chris Fabry lives. Thanks to our team. Ryan McConaughey is doing all things technical. Tricia is away this week, so Tahira and Lisa are helping out, producing and taking your calls. Before we get to your anxiety and I hope you will call us today, by the way, and let us know what is it that's going on and how. If you have a if you have a question along those lines, but I have a question for you before that. Have you ever discovered a treasure in the trash? You hear stories about people finding a stash of gold coins behind a wall, or a priceless painting at a garage sale? Dan was going through his grandfather's files, and he stumbled onto a manuscript that had never been published and it took a few years, but it's out and I not only want to tell you about it, I want to send it to you. I think it might make a big difference in your life, even about what we're talking about today. Dan worked on the book titled Becoming New 100 Days of Transformation Through God's Word. His grandfather was Doctor Warren Wiersbe, who died in 2019. If you give a gift before the end of the month, here's my anxiety. You're not going. You're going to wait and forget about it and not do it. I just stop worrying, Chris. I would love to send you a copy, but hurry. Tuesday is April 1st. No fooling. Call or click today. Give a gift of any size or become a backfence partner. Or give a gift each month and we'll send it to you. 866953227 9 or 8 6695 Faberry. And if you don't know how to spell faberry, it's easier than Ottaviano's Fabri Chris Fabri Livorno. All. You can see how you can support us and get this gorgeous hardcover. Becoming New by Doctor Warren Wiersbe. Uh, five six years after he passed away. Chris Fabry live. Hurry! April's coming. Johnny ardavan ardavan s he told me. Yes. It's absolutely Greek. He is the lead pastor of Stone Bridge Bible Church in Franklin, Tennessee, founder and president of Dial in Ministries, which provides biblical resourcing for the next generation. He served as both a camp director at Hume Lake Christian Camps and dean of the Master's University. He lives in Franklin with his wife Katie Jean and their two daughters. Johnny, welcome to the program. How are you doing today?
Good, Chris, thanks for having me on. It's a privilege to be here.
Now, this is the first time I've ever gotten to talk with you. And I've been working on. I told you before we went on, I've been working on your name, Art of Art. And I'm going to get this right In the book you talk a little bit about yourself being a pastor's kid. I think you grew up near Chicago, in the suburbs. You were number three of seven, and your mom and dad had seven kids in nine years. So tell me a little bit more about that. And who is Johnny Artabanus?
Yeah, well, really grateful for my parents. I have two parents, Scott and Patty, that know and love the Lord. My dad has been a pastor my entire life. That's all I've known. Um, so that's probably the last thing on earth I ever wanted to be. Was a pastor. I, I think I wanted to play for the Lakers, uh, or something, but quickly realized that would not be reality. I, um, yeah. So I studied accounting and finance in college. That was my plan. I wanted to go into finance, but the Lord really shifted my plans as I got involved in student ministries. And I, as you mentioned, I work at Hume Lake Christian Camps in Central California for several years. And when I was there, I was interacting with roughly 50,000 or so high school students a year. It's about a thousand 1500 kids a week that come up for camp. And in addition to them, they come with their counselors, their leaders and their youth pastors. And over time, this really just cemented my burden to proclaim the truth. And it opened the door when I was there to go work as the dean of Student Life at the Master's University, where I had the privilege to work with some some men that I really love and trusted. But it was after those two experiences of being in an evangelistic environment like the camp setting, and then more of a discipleship setting, like the Master's University, which is a Christian university in Southern California, that I wanted the confluence of both of those realities when I was in a discipleship context. I missed the evangelism, and when I was in evangelism context, I missed the discipleship. And then I just realized, full circle, that the local church is the vehicle by which both of those realities come together. And so I've been so grateful to be the pastor of Stonebridge Bible Church in Franklin, as you've mentioned for the last two years. I've married to Katie. She's the best. We met at camp. So I believe you can marry your camp crush, so to speak. And my bio is a little out of date now because just two months ago, we welcomed our third baby girl. So now I'm the father of three girls. I know Lily, Scotty, and Sadie. And so we've been really, uh, thankful for God's kindness and our family and our church and, um. Yeah, looking forward to chatting with you more.
I love it.
Lily, Scotty and Sadie. Um, okay. So, so being a pastor's kid, as you said, you wanted to play for the Lakers, but you say said that you had a hard time keeping up with even the the people at LA fitness, let alone the Lakers. Right.
Yeah. It's true. When you when you're getting dominated by the guys at like LA fitness, You know you're probably not going to make it to the NBA. So the Lord directed me another way.
So I love it. Okay. So your your heart.
Then this this comes not as much out of your own wound because I like to ask people where does this come from. It's more and I'm sure you've had anxiety and worry in your own life that you have have had to deal with, but you saw this just explode in the young people that you met at camp, right?
Yeah. You know, when I was there, Chris, I quickly became accustomed to hearing terms like self-harm and panic attack and part of the responsibilities for the lead counselors at night. So we would hire different staff, probably 400 to 500 summer staff that we would hire to help just run that camp with all the students that would come up. Is that the rise of medication for these students was so rampant over the years that I was there, and I started doing optional seminars in the afternoon that was, you know, designed for these high school students or for their counselors or for their youth pastors or their senior pastors. Just asking the question, what does the Bible say about anxiety? And what I found is that even though it was conflicting, these seminars, that is with the free time activities of paddle boarding or, you know, tournaments or being out on the lake that the students would pour in by the hundreds just to try to find the answer to what does the Bible say? What does Jesus say about my anxiety? And it wasn't just these students. It was these counselors and their pastors that were coming up with them that if they weren't anxious themselves, they were at least looking for biblical answers in order to minister to those who were assigned to their care. So to your question, I wouldn't say this was a particular, uh, thing that really plagued my background. Although, as you mentioned, I have struggled with worry. I don't write this from a high brow tower of expertise. Like I've arrived at my trust in the Lord, but rather I feel like this is one of the common expressions of the people of God, and we can talk about this more as the conversation unfolds. But this is actually one of the the the things that plague the people of God the most in the Scripture, some of the men and the women that we would say are the heroes of the faith are those that cry out in their anxiety and despair. Where are you, God? And so there's nothing new here. You know, Solomon says there's nothing new under the sun. And so I wanted to minister to these students and pastors alike in a way that was both biblical. Uh convictional. And yet also compassionate like Jesus.
I think there's a lot of shame and guilt here, too, especially for believers, because I need to trust God. I'm supposed to trust him with all my heart, lean not onto my own understanding, and oh, I'm worried about this. And so then I feel guilty about it. And then the guilt turns into shame. I'm a bad person. God doesn't love me anymore. And it's just this cycle that goes downward and it and it presses down or presses in and almost in a sense isolates us from God, and then it isolates us from other people too, doesn't it?
Yeah, I think a lot of people feel guilty about being anxious because they're told they should trust God. And yet, if you've grown up in the church and you've been singing Trust and Obey your entire life, trusting God sounds like Christian mumbo jumbo or an empty platitude. When your life is stripped and starved of the reasons for which why you should trust God. And that's really the impetus of my book, is I think people are told, you know, trust in the Lord. Don't be anxious. And yet, that's much easier said than done. And there's a reason why Paul says, that the peace that the Christian has is one that surpasses all understanding. It doesn't make sense, because when you look at the circumstances of our life and the circumstances of our world, the only thing that's rational and reasonable is anxiety. And so Christians, I think, are told that are given the prohibition. Don't be anxious, trust, you know, and then trust in the Lord. But I think in large part some of those prohibitions are not necessarily conjoined to the power by which we live and trust and faith.
Consider the lilies. Finding perfect peace in the character of God is our featured resource. It's by Johnny. He's our guest today, lead pastor of Stonebridge Bible Church in Franklin, Tennessee. And I wonder if this is going to touch a nerve in your own heart, in your own soul. Worry. Anxiety. Do you have some today? Let's talk about it. (877) 548-3675.
If you have worry.
And anxiety in your life today and you don't want it anymore, you want it to get out of the passenger seat there. I have a guest for you and a great resource. It's called Consider the Lilies. It's written by Johnny Aadhavan and you can find out more about him. We have links to him and to the book right there at the website. Chris. Faber and Faber. Chris. Faber live. Let's get a working definition because I, I wrote this down from the book. You say it's the inevitable worry, fear and unrest that rises in our minds when we direct our gaze to the problems, pressures and uncertainties of life rather than to God himself. Unpack that for me.
Yeah, and I think providing a definition is necessary, Chris, because in the Bible, the Greek word marinatto, which is a compound word which comes from the word maurizo, which means to tear or divide, or in new us, which is the mind. So that word for anxiety, marinatto means literally a divided mind. It can be translated either care or concern or anxiety. Um, for instance, Paul says to the Philippians that he's sending Timothy to them because there is no one else that is concerned for their welfare like Timothy. And this scenario, Miriam now is a good and godly thing. Interestingly, two chapters later, Paul will say in Philippians four six, do not be anxious for anything. And so you have to ask the question, biblically speaking, when does a good and godly concern, like when Paul says to the Corinthians that he has the daily concern for all the churches? When is it? When does a good and godly concern become an ungodly worry and anxiety? And I make the argument in the book that a good and godly concern, for instance, provision for your family is that a is that a bad thing to be concerned about providing? No. Absolutely not. That's a that's a good thing, a noble thing. But when that concern begins to you no longer trust in the Lord, you no longer, uh, cling to the promise that God has already provided, you know, promised to meet your every need in Christ Jesus, and you end up just dwelling on the unknown rather than on the character of God and His love and his mercy and his sovereignty. Then you end up being, I would say, sinfully worried because you've failed to trust in the promises and character of God. Corrie ten boom used to say that worry is like racing an engine without letting in the clutch. You burn energy and you go nowhere. And so often I think in our worries, what we're doing is just dwelling on the unknown, where what God, um, propels us to dwell on is his character, which is really the theme of my book after providing these different definitions for anxiety. Uh, we have to direct our attention somewhere, because when we're in a position of unknown or fear, we either dwell on the unknown. We either dwell on our anxiety or what is causing us to be fearful. But the Bible directs us to to fix our attention, fix our gaze, fix our hope on the character of God.
But you're not trying to theologically talk us out of worrying. It's it's deeper than simply, well, if I know this and I and I do that, then it's not going to be there anymore because of the the anxiety and the worry. I think a lot of people think, well, if I have anxiety, if I'm worried about something, then I am, I'm sinning or, you know, I'm a bad person because I'm not trusting God. And you go down the other way. What you're you're saying is anxiety is a is natural in a fallen world. Peace and trust are unnatural to us. So it's something we have to choose in a sense. Right?
Yeah. You know, I think it was J.I. Packer. And knowing God, he said, you know, just that reality that you've already alluded to, that peace is really you know, it's it's impossible to obtain peace when you're not fixing your hope on the character of God. And you're asking the question, is it more than just refraining from anxiety? And the answer is, yeah, it's a lot more than that, because the Bible calls us not only to not be anxious, but to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. And I think it would be helpful, Chris, just from like a thematic perspective, to look at the characters in the Bible that worry and deeply struggle with anxiety. And I've already mentioned that idea, but I think it's worth highlighting and punctuating at this juncture. Moses, for instance, is probably the most important person in the Old Testament. He writes the law. Um, you have this idea, maybe in your mind, if you've grown up in the church of a very vascular, strong leader. But when God commissions Moses to go to Pharaoh. Moses says, I can't go send someone else because he is anxious. He says, I don't talk good talk. Send someone else. So Moses is crippled with anxiety over the prospect of going to the most powerful man on earth and saying, let my people go. Um, David, you know, for instance, there are 42 kings in the Old Testament. Only one of them is referred to as a man after God's own heart. David is a warrior. He is a king. He is a beast of a man. And yet 33% of the psalms are lament where people are crying out saying, where are you, God? And there is a point in the Psalms where David says, every single night I make my bed, swim with my own tears. He asks the question, God, where are you? He says that he's so depressed at times that he felt as if his bones were breaking. That is a man's man. Let's just consider Elijah for a moment. Elijah in First Kings 18 slaughters 850 false prophets. He calls down fire from heaven, declares Yahweh to be the only true God and the face of countless people that are worshiping Baal. He's a hero. That's why people name their kid Elijah. But in the following chapter in First Kings 19, he finds out that Jezebel is trying to take his life, and he sits down under a tree, anxious and fearful, and he begs God to kill him. He says, take my life. Um. And then job would be the other example. Maybe final one here. There are 15 times. The Hebrew word tom is used in the Bible. That word means blameless. Only once does it refer to a man. That guy's name is job. Job, if you know the story, has his entire life fall apart by Sabeans Chaldeans. Wind and fire. His kids are dead. His livestock is dead. His wealth is gone. And at the end of the second chapter, he's sitting in a pile of dirt with a shard of pottery, scraping his boils as his wife tells him to curse God and die. And initially he responds by saying, you know, naked I have come from my mother's womb, and naked I will return. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But by the middle of the book that bears his name, he says that he is the companion of jackals. That's a nighttime animal. He says that his whole life has been tuned to the sound of wailing. He is gutted. So I just use as an example Chris, four of the godliest characters in the Old Testament, for sure. Uh, David. Moses. Job. Elijah. And you'd have to ask the question, how does God respond to them in their very anxious state? Very worried, two of which are suicidal. Um, asking God, where are you now? The rampant theme in Scripture, and this is the main theme of my book, is that God responds to each of these characters not by saying, let me tell you why this is happening, or merely to your point. Snap out of it. He responds not by saying, let me tell you why this is happening. He responds by saying, let me tell you who I am. And in the book of Job, for example, God mounts a divine pulpit in the 38th chapter and he says, gird your loins. And he gives job one of the most majestic manifestos of his character seen anywhere in all of Scripture. God does the same thing to Moses, Moses who made man's mouth. He responds by proclaiming his character to David. He responds by proclaiming his character to Elijah. He responds by proclaiming his character. And in the New Testament, because our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The way that Jesus responds to the anxious is likewise not by saying, snap out of it. Uh, he says, don't be anxious. But then he provides all of the reasons why, by directing his followers attention to, once again, the character of God. And I don't want to filibuster here, Chris, but just the last thing I'll say is, one of the things I often tell students and old people alike is that if Jesus of Nazareth was going to show up and speak at a convention on the subject of anxiety today, he would have nothing new to say. He wouldn't say, okay, some recent developments. No, he would say, open up your Bibles. And he would direct us once again to the character of God and His sufficient word. And so I think in theory, we believe that God is the same. But when we come to the Scripture, you know, I'm talking mainly our everyday worries. That's what Jesus does. And that's really where the heart of the Christian wants to fix their hope is okay. What exactly, then, does God say about his character that provides us with peace and girds us with hope in such a chaotic world?
Yes, that's Johnny Artabanus. If you go to Chris fabry.org, you'll see our featured resource, Consider the Lilies. It's his new book and we're featuring it today at the website. Chris Fabry lives finding perfect peace in the character of God. And this is why, you know, I think in the church sometimes people this is will be a knock against church, that people will just do this. You just change your thinking and just think this way rather than thinking that way. And it sounds like what you're saying is when these men, and certainly women too, in the scriptures experienced anxiety and worry and depression and even suicidal thoughts. God was very compassionate to them to move toward them. So I want anybody who's listening to the program today who's going through anxiety and worry. This can be the light on the dashboard that shows you, here's a God who cares for you that you can draw near to. Do you agree with that?
Well, absolutely. That's why I wrote in the book that every anxiety in our life is actually an invitation to draw near to God, because if there was nothing in our life that we were anxious or worried or fearful about, we would live as self-sufficient beings who do not run to God as a refuge and as strength. And so not only is there the opportunity to run to God, but I think that's why there's almost a blessing in okay, what am I anxious about? What am I worried about? And then in light of that, how how fast and Um, how much should I cling to God and and want to know him more? So. Yeah, absolutely. Chris.
So is the goal. Then I noticed this word popping up all throughout the piece. Is that the antithesis of anxiety and worry piece?
Yeah, that's a great question in many ways, yes. And that's and then in another way, I would maybe add one other word to that, which would be joy. And initially when I submitted the manuscript for my book, um, I didn't have that last chapter on Joy, and I ended up adding one because I feel like joy would be the true antithesis of anxiety and worry. Uh, for the Christian, you know, we walk through trials. Acts 1422 says, through many tribulations will enter the kingdom of God. I wrote this book mindful of people that have suffered, uh, to a far greater degree than I have. And so, yes, for the Christian, there is a peace that surpasses all understanding, knowing that our sins are forgiven. And I have seven of my 14 chapters in the book are on different attributes of God his love, his sovereignty, the fact that he hears us, the fact that he's near to us, his omniscience, which means he knows us. Um, so yeah, that provides a peace for the Christian, even when they're in the midst of great storms in life. Only the Christian can have peace when they've miscarried another baby. Or, um, their life is they're looking at a, you know, a balance sheet that seems impossible to to navigate. But then on top of that, there is the command. Um, in first Thessalonians five to rejoice always. And Paul says that in Philippians four, um, that we're to have joy. And Paul says we're sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. And so when when you find your identity in Christ, when you know your name's written in the Lamb's book of life, when you know that heaven is your home, when you know that God's in sovereign control of everything happening, and he's working out his plan for his glory and for your good, I think it does provide two key words to your point peace and joy.
Johnny says our anxieties grow in the garden of life's unknown, and there's no place that's where. That's not more evident than social media these days, or the instant information that we have. So when we come back, I want to talk about that in the the soup that we live in and hear more about what God wants us to see, particularly as we go to that Matthew chapter six passage. We'll dive into that straight ahead. If you go to the website Chris fabric.org, click through today's information. You can find out more about Johnny. There's no H in Johnny by the way. It's j o y r. And you don't have to spell that in order to see the book. Consider the lilies finding perfect peace in the character of God. You do have to spell Fabbri. Fabbri. Chris. Fabbri. And click through today's information. And if you have a question or a comment, maybe this is exactly where you're living and you're staring at the radio and you're saying, how did you know that I needed to hear this today? Well, we don't, but God does. If you have a question or comment. (877) 548-3675. We're talking about anxiety and worry today on Chris Fabbri Live. Many who get the unexpected news of an unplanned pregnancy have anxiety, and in today's world, they can alleviate that pregnancy. But that doesn't necessarily take away the anxiety. How do you talk with a person going through deep waters like that. What do you say? I read a really helpful book last year by Rolland Warren. He's president and CEO of Cornette, and Cornette works around the clock around the country showing people how to move toward a pro abundant life perspective for that unborn child, as well as the pregnant mom and the biological dad and everybody that's around them. They all need abundant life. The the life that Jesus talked about. And if you go to the website and click the Green connect link, you'll see the book by Rolland, the alternative to abortion why we must be pro abundant life. Read the personal story that he tells in there, and you'll see why. He's dedicated himself to changing hearts and lives about this issue. If you haven't heard about it, haven't read it yet. Just go to Chris Fabriclive. Org click the green Connect button today and you'll find out more about that book by Rolland Warren Chris. Fabry. Oliver. Oh. Johnny Aadhavan is with us today, and I want to take us to that passage in Matthew six where I had to go to the King James in order because I read CSB and, you know, NASB and NIV and a lot of the ESV as well, but you only get lilies from the King James Version. So, um, Matthew chapter six, Jesus says, this is why I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky. They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how. And this I'm reading from CSB. They translated wildflowers. learn how the wildflowers of the field grow. But King James says, consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not. Neither do they spin. So take me in. Jesus is not clobbering people over the head saying, if you're worrying, you're sinful and you're terrible, and stop doing that. He's really helping them enter into what's really going on inside their own hearts, right?
Yeah. Well, I think probably it is a prohibition. You know, the number one negative prohibition in scripture. Meaning what? God says do not do this more than any other. Prohibition is do not fear your maybe familiar with that 365 times. So he says do not fear. And so it is a prohibition. He does say don't be anxious. But I think it's I'm so thankful, Chris, that he doesn't stop there. Right. Because he doesn't say snap out of it or what are you thinking? Or cut it out. He does draw them and their attention to the character of God. And and really, before we maybe unpack the rest of these verses, I think it's important to punctuate that the Christian's life, maybe the their growth in Christ likeness, their growth and their trust, their growth and the peace that they have in God is a derivative of the renewal of their mind. That's part of what it means to be made in the image of God. And so one of the things that we're going to see from Jesus in the New Testament, and what we see as God interacts with characters that are anxious in the Old Testament, is he's always getting them to think, uh, modern psychology tells us that anxiety is the fruit of thinking too much. And Jesus says it's the fruit of thinking too little about the character of God. And so it is a prohibition. But he's he's both convictional in the sense where he's providing the prohibition, but he's compassionate. And so he takes them to two examples that are right there in the text that you mentioned. Um, and he's drawing us, you know, from a lesser than to the greater than argument if God provides for the birds. And when I talk with people, I'll just if I'm thinking the way Jesus is teaching, Jesus isn't going here. He here, he you know, he's saying, okay, everybody, look at those birds. All right. Do they have captains of food acquisition? Do they have chief supply chain officers? No they don't. We we know from Matthew 11 that two of those birds are sold for a single cent. That's how common and insignificant those birds are. And Jesus says, if I care for the larks, if we if I care for the sparrows, how much more do I care for those who have been made in my image and who will be purchased by my blood? Then he takes their attention not only from the birds, but then to the lilies. And he says, okay, look at those lilies. He says, they don't. They're not toil nor spinning. And then he says, yet I tell you that not even King Solomon. And by the way, King Solomon had an allowance of about $50 billion a year. Um, he said, but not even King Solomon was dressed in the same majesty as these lilies, which will remain unseen by nearly every human eye for their entire existence before they're thrown into the furnace. And he tells them, okay, if God cares for the birds, if he cares for the lilies, how much more does he care for you? And so he's getting them to engage. And I think, Chris, one of the things that's very essential to understand for the Christ follower is if you want to have a deepened faith in God, you're going to need to understand fundamentally that when God calls us into a deeper relationship with him, he calls us to engage our minds. And so Jesus uses these two examples because they turn your thinking cap on. And so then he goes from there, and then he begins in verse 27, and he asks that question, and who of you by being worried, can add a single hour to his life. He's just drawing their attention to the reality that so many of the things that we do worry about are things that are totally out of our control. Um, and I think it's it's probably worth mentioning that in this context of Matthew six. Chris, I think we often think that, you know, the people Jesus is addressing, they don't know what we're dealing with today. You know, their struggles, their worries, their anxieties. They don't really, you know, touch what I'm dealing with. But it might be worth reminding yourself that the people Jesus is addressing are under the ruthless regime of Rome. Rome used to crucify men, women and children for 40 miles leading up into a city. Uh, they literally chopped off the head of John the Baptist, the greatest man born of women according to Jesus, and the only prophet in the last 400 years. It was the Romans who killed every baby boy in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. So when Jesus says, don't be anxious, it's not like they're not navigating anything to be worried about. They were under a ruthless empire. And yet he's going to take people with their cares and their concerns and their worries about finances, their future, their clothing, what they're going to eat and the regime of Rome. And he's going to say, don't worry. And then as he unpacks, and I want you to intervene here, but he then directs them to the character of their heavenly father.
And that's where as he's and we isolate verse 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added or provided for you. We like to we like to recite that, you know, apart from what he has just said. And it is connected, isn't it?
Yeah, it's it's very connected. I think if you just even trace it and, you know, verse 27, you see who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life. That's your father's reign and rule over time. In verses 28 through 30. Why are you worried about clothing? And then he says, but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow, is thrown into the furnace, how much more will he clothe you? You of little faith. So not only your father's reign, that's your father's provision. Then we see in the following verses that he continues to provide, um, and that he knows all of our needs in verse 32. So your father reigns. Your father provides. Your father knows. He knows everything. And then. Yeah, as you mentioned, we often isolate this verse as a memory verse and demarcate it from the context. But then he draws their attention to your father's kingdom. He says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Uh, I think one of the things that Jesus does with the anxious is not only encourage them not to be anxious, he doesn't just tell them to dwell on the character of their Heavenly Father. He then draws them to engage in their father's kingdom work. You know, one of the things that Corrie Ten Boom used to talk about, Chris. Uh, she said so often for people that are anxious, one of the first things that I tell them to do is find someone to serve. And I think that's what Jesus draws our attention to do. And even when you look at the examples in the Old Testament and obviously we're kind of jumping back and forth, but in the book, I highlight that one of the things that God does for both anxious Moses and anxious Elijah is that he doesn't just give them the remedy of his character, he then commissions them. He tells Elijah after he's anxious, okay, here's my character. He gives him a nap and a snack because we're body, soul and mind. And then he says, go back to the land you came from. That's one of the most gracious things God does to those who are despairing, similarly with what he does with Peter. He says, Peter, feed my sheep. And sometimes I think we spend our life going. Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, don't be anxious. And one of the gifts that God gives his children is a task, a mission, an assignment where they take their mind off of themselves and put it onto serving the needs of other people. And so, yeah, that is what Jesus says. He says.
Maybe that could be today.
That is that's kind of our marching orders, that if there's anxiety and there's worry in my life, that here is this thing that God is saying, okay, I get that. I know you're you're dealing with that. How can you use this to reach out into somebody else's life? Not to drown the worry with work, but to get your mind on him and what he the purpose that you have? I have a purpose for you and a purpose even for the anxiety and the worry that you may be, uh, in your life and washing over you, hitting you like a wave today. I think that's really encouraging. Our final segment is coming up with Johnny Artabanus on Chris Fabry Live. Consider the lilies is the book at the website. Johnny's name may be new to you, but you write it down. You're going to be hear from him, Johnny R and consider the lilies. Finding perfect peace in the character of God is our featured resource at Chris Fabry Live. I got to come back to the social media thing and the instant society that we are baked in, because this happens with young people, happens to old guys like me too, because I get caught up with the, you know, here's the latest thing that's going on in the halls of Congress. And this is the important law. This is what the Supreme Court. ET cetera. ET cetera. Or just the social media of people being frustrated and angry and worried, and that social media and the instant access, what's that doing to our souls?
You know, I think it's a great question. The average person today, Chris, spends about seven hours a day looking at their screens. You know, we used to, I would say formerly maybe just 30 years ago, we could only process tragedies one day at a time in the morning newspaper. And now, with just a scroll of our thumb, people just see, maybe the difficulty that's taking place in the world, the economic uncertainty. Nuclear weapons are being launched into the ocean on top of, you know, this food causes cancer. And so there's, I think, a lot of a lot of different elements that contribute to anxiety. But really, I would just say that, uh, we are the sum and substance of what we feed our mind. That's a biblical reality. And so much could be said about screens. Much could be said about the way that even some of the content we're producing or I'm sorry, consuming if not deliberately sinful, is maybe not compelling us to fix our gaze on God. But we are the sum and substance of what we consume with our mind. Proverbs 23 seven says that as a man thinks so, he is. John Stott used to say that the battle for the Christian life begins in the mind. First Peter 113 says, prepare your minds for action. Romans 12 two says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so one of the things that I would want to stress to people, and I make the argument in the book, is that it's not enough to affirm different elements of God's character. It's not enough to affirm that he's in control, or affirm and check the box that he's loving and knows all things. The Christian is called to dwell deeply and meditate on these realities. The Puritans used to say that meditation, what you dwell on with your mind, is the hammer that shatters superficial Christianity. And I think so many people go, oh, I want that deep faith. I want that deep and abiding trust. But the Bible promises that deep, unshakable trust and faith to one type of person. And you find that person, that individual, in the opening psalm. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law his word. He meditates day and night. And then it says, that person will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. We find ourselves amidst the hurly burly of political, economic and relational instability and unknown. And so what we're called to do as Christians is think upon the truth of God's Word. And I think that our spiritual life. David Saxton says in his book, The Battle Plan for the mind, that our spiritual life is more akin to wolfing down a burger on a highway than it is feasting on a good meal. And I think that a lot of times people give God the peripheral pockets of their life. You know, maybe a couple minutes in the morning and a couple of minutes in the evening, and then they pray up. You know, God help me not to be anxious. And the Bible says, well, of course you're going to be anxious, because if your mind's not stayed on God. Isaiah 26 verse three, you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you. If your mind is directed everywhere and upon everything else, then of course you're going to be anxious. But if your mind is stayed on Jehovah, it says that God will keep you in perfect peace. In Isaiah 26.
Perfect peace and rest. I think that's how it goes. Okay, Kelly's on the line in Illinois. Kelly. Kelly, what did you want to say today?
Hi. Um, I just wanted to mention, like, an example in my life that really pulls a lot of what Mr. Aadhavan did I say that right? Um, yeah, that's. I thank you for taking. Thank you for taking my call. And so I have been a long time, um, follower of Christ. Very devoted, deep relationship. The the song through it all. Um, I don't know if you know that song, but I've learned to trust in Jesus. Um. I learned to trust in God is just brings me to tears every time. Because that that's where I am, I trust God. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. And yet I still have found myself, um, in recent months at work, becoming more and more anxious. And and these the anxiety started just coming up, and I couldn't even focus on what I was doing. I'm a school nurse. I'm. in a special education setting where I'm doing medical reviews and then I'm also so it's a lot of different districts and I'm also going out and doing, you know, education or trainings or IEP meetings and these different things. And I found myself, um, in a place where I wasn't sure, okay, where does my responsibility end? And the nurse in the district's responsibility began, and there was some overlap. And it's different from different things. And so trying to get this figured out and running into roadblocks and, and, you know, do I need to go do that or do they set it up, you know, all this stuff? And I just kept getting more and more anxious and had many, many talks with my administrator and then the administrator in the building's one one district in particular, and, and trying to figure out how to narrow this down. And it just wasn't really helping. And finally, my administrator just said, I don't know what more I can do to help you, I said. She said, you're right. They should be able to do that. But I don't know what more we can do. And I said, pray. It just came out as natural as can be. Just pray. I mean, it's going to work out. Just just pray. And within a few days, my thinking just it's like, why am I. I had to analyze. Why am I upset about this? Why is it bothering me so much? I love teaching to go out and teach the staff about whatever healthcare issue is is particular to that student. And and so I'm like, why is that bothering me? And and it kind of came out, you.
Know what you're doing. Kelly. What you did, what you did right.
There was you cast your anxiety on him and that was that was what you did with that. And I just want to say thank you for being the kind of person who would, would care about all those things, because there's a lot of people who would do the same kind of job and just say, okay, well, my it ends right here and I'm going to move on to the next thing and not even think about it. So thank you for for caring. But Johnny, I want to give you an opportunity to respond. That's a real world example, isn't it?
Yeah, it is a real world example. And she mentioned the reality of prayer. And I think that is an important chapter in the book that that I wrote on anxiety is that it would it's really Christian mumbo jumbo once again, to say that God is our refuge and our strength when we practically live in our own strength. And prayer is the lifeblood of the people of God, and prayer not only has God take away my anxiety, but God. Would you replace my anxiety with trust? And when Jesus teaches us to pray, I think a lot of people miss this. Prayer begins with worship, hallowed be your name. And so we need to lift up even our our understanding of what prayer is, that it's not a get list, a grocery list of our needs merely, but it is an elevation of who God is. It's a gratitude because Paul says that, uh, be anxious for nothing, but with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. And so prayer is the vehicle by which we thank God for who he is. And as we thank him that he's sovereign and loving, he cements those truths upon our heart.
Thank you for making this so biblical, Johnny, because, uh, using, you know, all of the people in the Old Testament and the new as well as well. And then, of course, the words of Jesus been really helpful. Kelly, thanks for your call. If you go to the website, Chris Farrell, you will see our featured resource by Johnny R. It is consider the lilies finding perfect peace in the character of God. Again go to Chris fabric.org. Thanks a lot for listening. Charles Martin's going to be with us tomorrow on Chris Farrell Live. A production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
