Today America is in the grips of an epidemic of worry. We worry about money, relationships, appearance, health, what other people think of us. The symptoms of our anxiety are staggering—from emotional disorders to serious health problems. We are literally worrying ourselves to death.
There is much that we in the church have to learn about anxiety. Our worries have a way of following us into the sanctuary and sitting with us in the pew.
Our age has produced a new malady. It is called “chronic fatigue syndrome.” There is a sense in which all of us suffer from it. If we are nothing else, we are tired.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
When we come to Christ, we come to One who can give us rest. We are all tired from something. Fatigue occasionally overtakes even the strongest among us. We are tired physically and mentally from the everyday struggle to make ends meet.
We all know what it is like to feel lonely. Loneliness is Friday night with nowhere to go, eating lunch by yourself, saying “no” when everyone else is saying “yes,” having no one to talk to, having the sole responsibility for making an important decision, losing a loved one.
During the minister’s prayer one Sunday, there was a loud whistle from one of the back pews. Gary’s mother was horrified. She pinched him into silence, and after church, asked: “Gary, whatever made you do such a thing?”
Gary answered soberly: “I asked God to teach me to whistle … And He just then did!”
The Scriptural Truth 