This morning, I received a text from an out-of-town friend. She simply asked, “How are you?”
I stared at my phone for a few seconds trying to determine how to answer honestly without drafting a book. I finally typed, “I’m trying to keep my head on straight and my emotions in check.” That was the truth. Things had been abnormally stressful that week.
There was a lot packed into the phrase “I’m trying.” How does someone keep their head on straight and their emotions in check under stress? How do we keep ourselves from believing lies, giving into temptation, and letting our unmanaged emotions affect our relationships with others?
This verse in Colossians 3 has been helpful to me this summer.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
The good news of this verse is that for those who have given their life to Christ, our old life is gone, and we have victory over the stress and struggles of our world. We can keep our heads on straight and our emotions in check by focusing on the things of God.
God’s handiwork can be found in every living thing. Time spent in nature admiring the sky, the stars, or God’s creatures lifts our souls out of the temporal and into the eternal. The new goslings in my neighborhood or the foxes that run across the hillside remind me of God at work in this world.
Or when my two-year-old granddaughter learns a new word like pepperoni or alligator, or a friend calls to chat at just the right time. These are things of God.
Likewise, all truth is God’s truth. Truth experienced in art, culture, music, dance, books, and film can all speak God’s truth and allow us to see him at work in our world. Attending the ballet, hearing jazz music coming from the convertible next to me, or getting reconnected with a glass artist that I love are all ways of seeing this truth.
These things make me perk up my ears, tap my toes, and smile. They are ways I can seek the things above and put my stress and struggles in perspective.
A friend of mine said recently, “When you recognize that God is found in every living thing, you never have to question where God is in your life.” I agree.
There are still times, however, that I get sucked into believing that fear and shame are real. When I experience them, I often let them speak truth into my situation. They are experts at adding fuel to the fire related to my stress. One simple way I’ve learned to stand up against the lies of fear and shame is to recite these two truths from scripture:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment. 2 Timothy 1:7
There is therefore now no condemnation (or shame) for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
It doesn’t work for me to think I can eliminate stress, struggle, or temptation on my own. Without Jesus, I don’t have what I need inside of me to beat these things. And the world doesn’t have it either. I must change my focus. I must remember that God is not the author of fear or shame.
In his book The Hope of Glory, author Sam Storms says, “The desire to walk in the way of Christ doesn’t come from self-restraint, but from a mind captivated and controlled by the beauty and majesty of the risen Lord. It takes both the energetic orientation of your will as well as the singular devotion of your mind.”
When stress is getting the best of you, take a minute and look up!
