Today we begin a new message series called “God’s Remedy For Stress.” Stress is defined as “A mentally or emotionally upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health.” We can learn a few things about stress from this definition. First of all, stress is not good, it negatively affects your physical health. Stress occurs in response to adverse external influences. Some of these influences we can do something about, others we cannot. However, since stress is a response to adverse circumstances, we can learn how to respond differently and reduce our stress level.
In this series we’re going to be looking at what God’s Word has to say about what causes stress and how we can live our lives in stressful times with less stress. The pace of life is getting faster and faster. We try to cram more and more things into the 24 hours of each day. It is if we are all jugglers, trying to juggle more and more plates. Sooner or later the stress begins to build and everything may come crashing down in our lives.
The Bible predicted thousands of years ago what would happen in our age. NLT Daniel 12:4 Seal up the book until the time of the end. Many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase. I think we’ve got the rushing here and there down and knowledge is increasing at a phenomenal rate. The boundaries between work and family are disappearing. In particular, work is invading every aspect of our lives and homes. We now have laptops, cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging and the internet. This means that you can do work outside of the office, anytime, whether in your home office or while you are watching television with your family.
Is this increase in knowledge and productivity bad? No, not in itself, but when your lifestyle gets too souped-up, stressed-out and overscheduled, you’re headed for burnout. The Bible is clear about how hurry, busyness and a frantic pace affect our lives. There are four results of a fast-paced lifestyle.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 11, 2005 message entitled Slowing Down The Pace