Jesus Doesn’t Want You to Live in Constant Stress
We live in a stress-driven culture but this is not the life God wants us to live. He desires we walk in freedom and joy!
Are you letting religion stress you out? There’s a type of overwhelm that arises from our Christian life that has nothing to do with Jesus but rather religion. It’s possible to experience overwhelm when we convince ourselves that we’ve messed up so much or fallen short so often that we question God’s love for us.
For example, you might have become distracted by life or simply drifted away from your church and faith just because. The guilt crashes down and you think, “God’s probably really mad at me, and I don’t know what to do.” We assume we’ve passed the point of no return.
Wondering if God loves you is, in my opinion, the most overwhelming existential question a human, especially a Christian, can ask. If that’s you today, I want to share with you the same thing that I believe God’s Holy Spirit prompted me to share with an embarrassed young Christian woman who’d been in recovery for opioid abuse and feared God was angry with her: You can’t mess up God’s love for you.
If you need to read that again before you continue, go ahead. You can’t mess up God’s love for you. There is no condemnation on you. God is still working in you, and when you trust Him, His best is yet to come (Phil. 1:6).
Flowing in the Unforced Rhythms of Grace
Religious stress and overwhelm has a room of spinning plates all its own. Whew. Bless it. You’ve got a plate spinning for reading your Bible, another for prayer, one hand-medown plate for still attending your parents’ church, a chipped giving plate, a few plates (or a lot of plates!) for volunteering. There’s also your small group Bible study plate, even though that tends to go missing—but no worries, you find it every few months and show up again. While all of these are important parts of living the Christian life, the problem arises when you believe that keeping all these plates spinning is what God wants for you. It’s not.
Religious stress doesn’t come from God but rather from our expectations of what we think God wants from us. We must not confuse religious stress for Holy Spirit conviction. Religious stress is a mindset that believes following rules is essential to following God. There’s no peace in our Christian life when we’re wrapped up in religious stress.
Jesus didn’t live His life on earth in overwhelm or stress. In fact, He spoke against those who piled to-dos on God’s people with no regard for how those extra requirements weighed down their hearts. The religious leaders in Jesus’s time created religious stress. Jesus offered a different way:
Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Matt. 11:28
God didn’t send Jesus to die to give you more things to do after getting saved. The religious stress that you feel isn’t from God. In His great love for us, God sent Jesus to do what we could not do for ourselves—save us. Not only did God save us from the stress of earning forgiveness or salvation through following rules, but He wants us to experience the freedom that comes from our relationship with Him. In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases Jesus’s invitation this way:
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Matt. 11:28–30 MSG
Jesus’s invitation offers a chance for you and me to take holy rest from the religious hustle. Can I get an amen? Depending on the denomination or faith tradition you were raised in, you may have been taught that God has a list of requirements—from the number of times per day that you needed to pray, the amount of money that you were required to give, or under what conditions you could be kicked out or shunned from your faith community. All of that is stressful! But Jesus came so that we could lay all of that down and learn His unforced rhythms of grace so that we can live freely and lightly.
Reflection:
- Have you experienced religious stress recently? Do you feel like you aren’t doing a good enough job being a Christian? Take a moment to set that yoke down and accept the invitation to rest.
- What areas of your life are most stressful? Make a list and pray through each item on the list and make sure to plan a moment of rest into your day.
Were you inspired by this post? Check out the book Stronger than Stress: 10 Spiritual Practices to Win the Battle of Overwhelm by Barb Roose to start combating your overwhelm, burnout, and anxiety. She’s also written a Stronger Than Stress Bible Studyto help you dig even deeper into God’s Word on the subject.
Author bio: Barb Roose is an established author, a speaker at national women’s conferences, and a regular contributor to (in)courage, Crosswalk, and iBelieve. She has written five Bible studies and four books and is the host of the Better Together podcast. Barb serves as a teaching pastor at her home church with over 6,000 in weekly attendance. The proud mother of three adult kids, Barb loves reading and walking. Whenever possible, she prefers to eat dessert first.
