Changed - Part 2: Freak Out or Be Free

While driving along the 215 Freeway last week, a motorcycle flew past me and as it did the driver turn around shaking his fist at the car in the next lane. Apparently the drive was not pleased. From my vantage point, I saw the motorcycle heading toward a semi-truck and thought to myself, as angry as the driver may be he would be wise to pay attention to where he is headed. Fortunately he turn around in time to avoid a collision that would have for certain ruined his day and the day of his family. 

How many accidents have happened in your life because you focused more on what just happened and not on what is happening next? How many times have we all been tempted to move away from difficulty with no regard to what kind of trouble we may be getting into. I use this to make the point that freaking out will not bring freedom.

People are in panic mode because they have made mistakes and feel like they have lost control of their lives and cannot change. Very few things bring on the temptation to freak out like the thought of loosing control of our lives and having no power to make positive live change. What follows are my thoughts concerning the truth that freaking out does not bring positive life change.

1. We often panic when our actions yield unexpected results.

    

In Matthew 27:3-10 we see how Judas Iscariot is a sad example of freaking. Judas recognized that his action had an unexpected results. Many believe that Judas assumed that Jesus would work himself out of trouble as He did so many times before. Apparently Judas had not been listening to Jesus as He explained that He would in fact suffer. If this is correct, Judas was attempting to financially profit at the expense of Jesus but freaked out when Jesus was lead away to His death.

We can also see in Judas that his repentance was not Godly sorrow that leads to restoration, but a remorse that lead him to self-destruction. This is similar to the idea that a person is only sorry after they get caught doing wrong. When a person confesses sin prior to anyone finding out, it is usually a Goldy sorrow and restoration is more likely.  This is made very clear in 2 Corinthians 7:10 where Paul writes, “For godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

2. We are tempted to panic and be filled with anxiety when our future in unsure. 2 Peter 1:3-15

Peter is writing to a group of people who are tempted to abandon the promises of God concerning the return of Jesus and their eternal hope. Nothing defines freaking out more than the abandonment of our faith in God. The people to whom Peter was writing were panicking because of the persecution they faced as followers of Jesus. 

Because many of us are tempted to do the same, we would be wise to listen to Peter as he describes a lifestyle opposite of panic that is based upon the power and promises of God. Those to whom Pater wrote, knew that God had promised these things but they doubted the power of those promises therefore they doubted the very power of God. 

  

3. Anxiety is often a result of disobeying God which removes us from the peace that come from  

    God alone.  Deuteronomy 28:65-68

These words of Moses as recorded in this text were spoken to those who were about the follow God into to land that He had promised. God wanted them to be fully aware of what would happen if they chose to disobey Him as they lived the land that He provided. This warning expels the notion that the consequences of our disobedience can be blamed on a lack of power on God's part. When we suffer the consequences of disobedience it is our fault not God's. We must repent and turn to Him without freaking out and abandoning Him and His love for us. 

        

My challenge for us becomes to move toward the positive. As the Psalmist did, ask God to search your heart and reveal the source of anxiety. Psalm 139:23 "23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." As God reveals this to you, commit yourself to dealing with by trusting in God's grace and mercy. His gracious presence will help calm the anxiousness in your heart.  

We may also prayerfully find something to be thankful for as Paul the apostle challenged the Philippian Church in Philippians 4:6 when he wrote "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." This would be the opposite of freaking out and is a huge step towards positive life change.