One of the most important insights into the Christian life that I’ve come across is found in John Piper’s Future Grace. Piper’s premise in Future Grace is that our daily battle with temptation to sin is a battle against unbelief, specifically unbelief concerning God’s promises. Thus, we fight against temptation and sin by fighting to believe God’s promises found in His Word or, as Piper puts it, we fight to live by faith in future grace.
When it comes to struggling with the sin of worry we must go back to God’s promises to care for and provide for His children. For example, many of us worry about our finances. We fear that we won’t have enough to meet our needs, pay the bills, or cover our children’s college education. Yet Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 6:25-34 that God knows our needs and will ensure that we have everything we need as we live for Him. Jesus concludes:
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33).
You don’t need to be anxious about food, clothing, shelter, or [insert what you're anxious about here] because “your heavenly Father knows that you need them…and all these things will be added to you”. When you’re faced with anxiety over these things call to mind God’s promise to care for you and to meet your needs. As your faith is fed by His promises you’ll find yourself worrying less.
At other times we worry about not having enough strength or energy to get through everything that’s on our plate. During these struggles recall Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:34:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
John Piper comments on this verse:
“God will see to it that you are not tested in any given day more than you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). He will work for you, so that ‘as your days, so shall your strength be’ (Deuteronomy 33:25). Every day will have no more trouble than you can bear, and every day will have mercies sufficient for that day’s stress (Lamentations 3:22-23)” (Future Grace, 59).
There are many more promises like this in Scripture. I encourage you to spend some time making note of them, even memorizing particular promises, so you will be able to recall God’s promises when you’re in the midst of struggling with worry.
If you’d like to read the chapter in Future Grace on fighting against anxiety there is a PDF version of the chapter available from the Desiring God website. You can also listen to a sermon by John Piper on this topic here.
