Worry – Anxiety – Fear

By E. Stanley Jones

Almost every evil is some perverted good. Worry, anxiety, and fear are perverted good. There is an instinct within us to look ahead, to plan, to think about meeting possible situation before they come. This capacity of foresight is probably one of the basic reasons for man’s rise beyond the animal.

There is a healthy fear that gives us skill and drive. There is an unhealthy fear that takes away both skill and drive — it inhibits us . . . Fear, like any other drive, has to be brought under control and used for constructive purposes. Out of control, it turns into worry and anxiety and becomes destructive to itself and others . . . The probabilities are that fear, worry, and anxiety are the greatest single trinity of evils a man can take into his life. He must root them out at all costs.

Jesus did not try to teach men to win release from alarms by refusing to see them. He told them to “see” – to look fears straight in the face and yet not to be alarmed.

REMEMBER THAT EVERY FEAR, EVERY TROUBLE, EVERY SICKNESS, EVERY SIN YOU MAY FACE HAS BEEN AND IS DEFEATED AND OVERCOME BY THE ONE YOU FOLLOW —

CHRIST. . . You need not be defeated by anything unless you consent to be. If you throw your will on the side of victory, then the whole of the Universe of Reality throws itself behind your will, releases it, reinforces it, redeems it – and you!

REMEMBER THAT WORRY OR FEAR IS A KIND OF ATHEISM. . . With God you can meet it, overcome it, assimilate it into the purpose of your life.

Let God replace the false energy of fear and worry with the true energy of faith working through love. Life is bound to bring trouble. It is made that way. But don’t telescope the troubles of tomorrow and of the next day into today. Meet today, today; for if you put the troubles of next week into today by anticipation through worry, then you spoil today. You are meeting two sets of troubles at once – one set that is actually here, and the set that you bring in by worrying about tomorrow’s troubles. You are therefore meeting your troubles twice – once before they come, and once when they are actually here . . . Worry is the advance interest you pay on troubles that never come. Some of them do come, and you can meet and conquer them separately. But tomorrow’s troubles plus today’s break you.

The theory of “divide and conquer” is applicable here. Divide your worries, and meet one day’s worries at a time, and conquer them. But don’t let worries gang up on you and come piling all at once into one day. Divide and conquer. Meet today, today.

Never act on a fear, for fears are usually false. “See that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” Note that the pattern was seen “IN THE MOUNT.” Don’t build your life according to any pattern shown to you in the valley of fear. Wait till you get to the mount of faith and then build your life plans.

Your faith and God’s faith flow together, and hence can do anything.