WE live in an age of high pressure. Competitive examinations are the rule for the schoolboy, and competitive businesses for the man. The spirit animating the world is a keen ambition to exceed every former record. Man’s very vitality is consumed by the gnawing unrest to be first, and to keep first in every race. Every faculty he possesses is strained to its highest tension in order to accomplish his purpose; and he is necessarily haunted by a perpetual fear, lest through some unexpected circumstance or the other his efforts may fail after all. The moralists of this age condemn this state of things, and the man most overwhelmed by his cares and forebodings acknowledges it is wrong. But he goes on fretting and fuming all the same, for he says he must, or else go to the wall.
Beloved, are we not in danger of allowing this spirit of intense pre-occupation with contingencies to steal insensibly into our lives and damage our souls? Undoubtedly, whether we realize it or not, there is such a danger; else we should not have such an exhortation as, “Be careful [anxious] for nothing” (Phil. 4:66Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (Philippians 4:6)). It is possible for a believer to allow the cankerworm of care to prey continually upon his inner man, and to worry himself into a state of absolute dejection as to sorrows which after all are only anticipated and which may never be realized. This is possible, but oh! how needless, and moreover, how dishonoring to the man of faith.
The Lord Jesus, in the parable of the sower, warned that these needless anxieties concerning the things of this age choke the word, preventing its fruitfulness (Mark 4:1919And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. (Mark 4:19)). Indeed, how can there be the display of the Christlike virtues, such as joy, peace, patience, gentleness, and care for others, when the spirit is overcast by gloom and fretfulness?
So strongly did the Lord condemn this frame of mind that He connected His exhortation with two of the commonest objects of daily concern. Nothing is more necessary for temporal life than food and raiment; having these we ought to be content (1 Tim. 6:88And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. (1 Timothy 6:8)). Nevertheless the teaching of Christ was, “Take no thought [be not anxious] for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matt. 6:2525Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? (Matthew 6:25)). Omnipotent Wisdom openeth His hand and gives the birds of the air their food in due season, and that same hand clothes the lilies of the field with a beauty proving it divine. What then shall Omnipotent Love do for His children, “O ye of little faith?” Be not anxious for the morrow, your Father knows your need. He Who has given great things—the greatest, His Son—will He forget the small things—the loaf and the cloak?
But if we suspect doubt creeping into the soul, what shall we do? Let the apostle answer, “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6, 76Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6‑7)).