How to cure anxiety.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34), Jesus commands us to not be anxious about our basic needs in this life. But how do we do this?

Well, the ascetic solution to anxiety is to stop caring about things in this world. But God made us embodied beings with real needs, and denying this only makes us angry at our Creator and alienates us from Him.

The self-reliant solution to anxiety is to take matters into our own hands by provide for our needs ourselves. But as we learn how weak, inept, and vulnerable to things outside our control we are, this only produces more anxiety rather than less.

Similarly, the religious solution to anxiety is to earn God’s protection by performing our holiness rituals well enough to deserve it. But as we learn how sinful we are, this only makes us more insecure about every little aspect of our self-righteousness.

In contrast, Jesus teaches us to solve anxiety by thinking about who God is. God made us. God loves us. And God provides for plants and animals, which He cares much less about than us. So, of course He will meet the needs of His children. The Christian solution to anxiety is to need having our needs met by a Father who is able and eager to meet them.