Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

by Max Lucado

Psychologists verified this fact when they studied the impact of combat on soldiers in World War II. They determined that after sixty days of continuous combat the ground troops became “emotionally dead.” This reaction is understandable. Soldiers endured a constant threat of bomb blitzes, machine guns, and enemy snipers. The anxiety of ground troops was no surprise. The comparative calm of fighter pilots, however, was. Their mortality rate was among the highest in combat. Fifty percent of them were killed in action, yet dogfighters loved their work. An astounding 93 percent of them claimed to be happy in their assignments even though the odds of survival were the same as the toss of a coin.2 What made the difference? Those pilots had their hands on the throttle. They sat in the cockpit. They felt that their fate was theirs to determine.3 Infantrymen, by contrast, could just as easily be killed standing still or running away. They felt forlorn and helpless. The formula is simple: Perceived control creates calm. Lack of control gives birth to fear. You

Offset it. Determine never to make another mistake. Build the perfect family. Create the perfect career. Score perfect grades. Be the perfect Christian. Everything must be perfect: hair, car, tone of voice. Stay in control. Be absolutely intolerant of slipups or foul-ups by self or others.

Once Paul saw Jesus, he couldn’t see anymore. He couldn’t see value in his résumé anymore. He couldn’t see merit in his merits or worth in his good works anymore. He couldn’t see reasons to boast about anything he had done anymore. And he couldn’t see any option except to spend the rest of his life talking less about himself and more about Jesus.

He became the great poet of grace. “But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone” (Phil. 3:7 TLB). In exchange for self-salvation, God gave Paul righteousness. “Now I am right with God, not because I followed the law, but because I believed in Christ” (Phil. 3:9 NCV). Paul gave his guilt to Jesus. Period. He

“I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us” (Phil. 3:13–14 TLB).

The saint dwells in grace, not guilt. This is the tranquil soul.

God’s grace is the fertile soil out of which courage sprouts. As

The secret is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. When I fly to Joe [my catcher], I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me and pull me safely over the apron…. The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. I am not supposed to catch Joe. It’s Joe’s task to catch me. If I grabbed Joe’s wrists, I might break them, or he might break mine, and that would be the end for both of us. A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.2

Your Father has never dropped anyone. He will not drop you. His grip is sturdy and his hands are open. As the apostle proclaimed, “And I know the Lord will continue to rescue me from every trip, trap, snare, and pitfall of evil and carry me safely to His heavenly kingdom. May He be glorified throughout eternity. Amen” (2 Tim. 4:18 THE VOICE).