According to health experts, excessive worrying can affect your appetite, lifestyle habits, relationships, sleep, and job performance. It can cause you to overeat, smoke, or use alcohol and drugs. Anxiety can cause high blood pressure, difficulty in swallowing, fatigue, dizziness, dry mouth, fast heartbeat, or even heart attack. The negative outcomes of excessive worry is perhaps one of the reasons God instructs us—and the Apostle Paul reminds us—of an effective antidote for this negative fear. We read this in Philippians 4, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Then the apostle tells us to focus our thoughts “on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.” So even if we never achieve a totally worry-free life, we can grow in greater intimacy with God and in doing so have less worry.
Dr. Melvin E. Banks, Sr.
Dr. Melvin E. Banks, Sr. is the founder and chairman of UMI (Urban Ministries, Inc.). Under his direction, UMI has grown to be a leading publisher of Christian education resources for churches in the African American community. Read More
