With this message we are moving toward the conclusion of our series in the book of Philippians. In our passage this Sunday, Paul makes a command that on a cursory level feels unrealistic and perhaps even unsympathetic. He says in 4:6,
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
It’s hard for me to imagine Paul suffering in prison and never feeling the petty monster of anxiety as he awaits his own sentencing. That doesn’t sound realistic or human to me. I don’t think Paul’s command is to just ignore the feelings of anxiety as if they don’t exist, but rather he’s giving us special insight as how to not be paralyzed and defeated by the presence and weight of anxiety in our lives.
Thomas à Kempis once said this about the petty monster of anxiety. “What else does anxiety about the future bring you but sorrow upon sorrow?” This Sunday we will explore how eschatology (which is just a fancy word that means the study of the end times),and our vision of the future is helpful in sustaining us through the trials of the present.
.jpg)
