How to Confront Worry and Anxiety — John MacArthur

MacArthur says:

When fear of the future grips us, the encouragement we find on the pages of Scripture provides our best and only defense. I can think of times when God’s Word put to rest the doubts and fears of my family and gave us peace in trying circumstances. I remember the drive to the hospital after learning of Patricia’s near-fatal car accident several years ago, not knowing whether she would live or die. More recently, I was the one in the hospital, suffering from blood clots in my lungs. For several days my condition was unstable as the doctors waited to see how I would respond to medication. In each case, God’s promises kept the fears at bay.

I’m sure you can think of times in your own life when fear and doubt would have overwhelmed you if not for a verse or passage you remembered from God’s Word—times when worry or panic gave way to peace as you immersed yourself in Scripture.   Continue at Eric T. Young

Whatever Is Not from Faith Is Sin — Really?

People from the time of John Chrysostom (347–407) have tried to limit the meaning of Paul’s words in Romans 14:23, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” Chrysostom cautions, “Now all these things have been spoken by Paul of the subject in hand, not of everything.”

Leon Morris follows this limitation and says,

Whatever be the truth of actions done before one becomes a believer, Paul is not discussing them here. His concern is with the believer who sometimes does things that are not motivated by faith. (The Epistle to the Romans, 493)

But Lenski says, No!

Is this to be restricted to the Christian alone and to the matter of the adiaphora alone, namely to faith in this domain? No; it covers this domain only because it is a part of one that is much larger. (The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 854)

What do you think?

Here’s the context to help you get oriented (Romans 14:21–23):

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Augustine in his Lectures on the Gospel according to St. John cites Romans 14:23 as a universal statement covering all human conditions:    Continue at John Piper

We’re Pastors and We’re Anxious

He sat in my office exhausted and discouraged. No, he wasn’t about to abandon the ministry to which he’d been called. In many ways he lived with a deep sense of privilege. He had been chosen and gifted to be a minister of the gospel, but he was tired, and his work had taken a toll on his family. He was able to admit that he said yes too much, sought to establish personal control over too many things, and worked way too much. He had thought that his deep dedication and unending schedule were the result of the motivation and loyalty of faith, but in midst of his exhaustion and his family’s protest, he began to wonder. Could it be that this life of frenetic energy and constant ministry focus was driven by something else?

His wife told him again and again that he needed to be around more for their four children. She told him that even when he was home, he often wasn’t “there.” And in his quiet, self-reflective moments he had to admit that his heart wasn’t at rest. Little did my pastor friend know that he was not alone. His story is the story of many pastors.

Could it be that one of the dark secrets of pastoral ministry is that a whole lot of what we do is driven by worry and not by faith?    Keep Reading...

Anxiety Attacked