When Your Nerves Are Yelling at You

This is a meal that feeds us spiritually, and we should make a point of understanding how this relates to something we call stress. At this time of year, almost all of us have additional responsibilities, and some of us have quite a few additional responsibilities. This might be a function of Christmas preparations, or finals, or both. This means that all of us have quite a bit of additional stress. That can be good or bad, depending.

This is spiritual food and food feeds you so that you can work. The expenditure of energy, spiritual or otherwise, is not possible apart from stress. Muscles that are totally relaxed cannot do anything. This same thing is true of your spiritual muscles—you are fed so that you alternate between stress and relaxation in a rhythmical way, which is what work is. But this kind of stress is what enables you to sleep well, to sit down at a meal with gratitude. Godly stress makes you tired and hungry, which is a good thing to be. It is a great condition to be in, and it is all because of stress.

But the other kind of stress is just another name for worry or anxiety—as when we say someone is stressed out. That’s not so good, being a sin. Muscles can’t work when they are tight all the time, and when you are stressed in this way, you are approaching paralysis. Feeding spiritually, or trying to give yourself over to sabbath rest, or trying to sleep, won’t work because your body, and your emotions, and your nerves, are all yelling at you. The only thing that can be done about this kind of stress is repentance.

Confess it like you would any other sin. Resist the temptation to get spun tight the same way you would resist any other temptation. After all, it is no fun and does absolutely no good. Not only does it not do any good, it usually makes things worse and gives you more to get stressed about. And having confessed the sin, sit down to feed spiritually here so that God can give you the right kind of stress.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.