transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:05] Welcome to Ten Minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work.

Speaker 2:
[00:10] I'm Patrick Miller. In 1947, WH. Auden published the poem, The Age of Anxiety. It was a long poem that went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, and it opens with a sentence that could be written today. Now is the age of anxiety. He wrote that in the aftermath of World War II. The promises of the enlightenment and rationalism had all fallen flat on their face. Rather than ushering in an era of endless peace, the age of science and reason and machines became a midwife to nuclear weapons, rail guns and concentration camps. Auden wrote, We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die. If post-war Europe felt anxiety, we can understand why. Cities were leveled. Between 70 and 85 million people died. I don't think those of us who live on land untouched by war for well over a century can conceive the carnage, the charnel house that was World War II. And yet, I sometimes think that we somehow experience more anxiety than they did because now is the age of anxiety. Though for a very different, far less violent reason. We don't fear war on our shores. We don't fear hunger. Most of us don't fear sleeping without shelter. All of these things set us apart from most humans throughout most of history. In the past, humans who did feel anxiety, they felt anxiety over those things, food, clothing, shelter, life and war. Perhaps the most famous passage in the Bible about anxiety and worry discusses precisely these topics. Jesus spoke these words to his followers in Luke 12 22. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They have no store room or barn. Yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than birds? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God closed the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, oh, you of little faith? And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after these things, and your father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Food, clothing, shelter, these were the very real anxieties of the men and women living in Jesus' time. But for most people in the West, they're not. In America, only 0.23 percent of the population is homeless. Only 5 percent of our population faces serious food insecurity. Now, I don't want to minimize these things. If you're going through that, then I want you to take to heart Jesus' words, God sees, he will provide. But what about the rest of us? Jesus says to us, don't worry about food, clothing or shelter. And if we're being honest, we never do. Not because we trust God and seek his kingdom, but because those things are just givens in our lives. They're just things we rarely worry about. And if we do worry about them, it's only for a moment and in very strange circumstances. So I've been trying to revisit this passage to discover what it means for us today, because the reality is that we do have tremendous anxiety. In fact, studies show that anxiety disorders have increased amongst adults by 47 to 55% since the 1950s. The last 10 years have been particularly bad. So here we are, the people who have everything most people throughout history wanted. And yet, we're more anxious and worried than they ever were. Why? Well, after much reflection, I think it's not because we have too little. I think it's because we have too much. You see, a strange thing happens to the human soul when you have plenty. The more you have, the more you worry about wanting more. In Ecclesiastes 5.10, we read, Whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. In Proverbs 27.20, we read, Death and destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes. Your eyes are a bottomless pit, and the more that you have, the more that you'll want. He with much money never has enough money. Now, of course, you say, I don't have that much. I'm not wealthy. Well, that depends on your comparison point. Compared to your neighbor, perhaps, but compared to the world, you are wealthy. If you make over $60,000 a year, or you're in a household that makes more than that, you are in the top 1% of the most wealthy people in the world. If you make over $45,000 a year, you're in the top 2% most wealthy people in the world. If you make over $22,000 a year, you're in the top 5% most wealthy people in the world. And we aren't just wealthy and money. We have cars, but they're never nice enough for us. We have clothing, but we never have enough. We have food, but we always want more. We have entertainment, but we always need more. Consume, consume, consume, buy more, more, more. That's our mantra. And I believe that in a strange way, our wealth and abundance is the very source of our anxiety. Why? Because the more you have, the more you worry about wanting more. The more you have, the more unsatisfied you are with what you already have. The more you have, the less you worry about actual necessities, and the more you worry about the internal things that you can't even fix. Your insecurities, your loneliness, your sadness. The more you have, the more it takes to make you happy. The more you have, the less it takes to make you sad. Now is the age of anxiety, because now is the age of plenty. Which leads me to the end of this passage. Because Jesus' solution for anxiety in a world of scarcity was shocking back then. But it's arguably even more shocking today, when we all believe that more is the path to happiness. Jesus concludes his discourse on anxiety saying this, verse 32, Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide for yourselves purses that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If you want less anxiety, own less stuff. If you want less anxiety, give away more. If you want less anxiety, fixate your heart on getting more in heaven, not more on earth. If that was the cure back then, when people didn't have hardly anything to give away. How much more so is it true today when we have so much to give away? Jesus wants to free you from your worry by his grace, but the pathway there is through the cross of less. A cross is not what any of us want. Perhaps it's worth rereading WH. Auden's poem with a little tweak. We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our abundance than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die. Jesus climbed his cross to set you free from the lies and the anxiety of having too much. Join him and take that freedom in full.