The Atonement: An Answer for Anxiety

To overcome anxiety in our lives we must learn to use the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Many people’s lives are filled with worry. Some of us wake up in the morning worrying about our troubles, our failings, or at least our task lists. Some of us lay in bed at night, awake for hours, our worries replaying in our minds. But the atonement of Jesus Christ can help us trade worry and anxiety for joy.

Know this, worries never lead to happiness. In the midst of my worries I have never stopped suddenly to reflect on how happy I was. Happiness and even joy are born of hoping we can succeed. Misery, on the other hand, is fueled by discouragement and despair.

If the adversary of mankind were to share his motto, it might be, “Men and women are that they might be miserable.” But we know better than to believe this. We were born to be happy and to have joy, not misery!

We want to be happy and even joyful, but often find ourselves struggling with negative feelings that drag down our motivation to keep trying. If we give in to negative thinking we slip towards discouragement and if unchecked, towards despair. If we fight to stay positive we can usually outpace despair but never quite stay ahead of discouragement or catch up with our deepest desires and dreams. We console ourselves with the thought that true joy will come to us in the next life if we just continue to fight the good fight here and now.

But what if we could win that fight in this life? What if that is exactly what God intended for us to do? What if He wanted us to leave worry and anxiety behind and embrace joy now? Scripture tells that this is the case and that the atonement of Jesus Christ powers our ability to let go of worry.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that they should eliminate fear and anxiety from their lives. “Be careful for nothing . . .” Paul wrote. The Greek word merimnao (mer-im-nah’-o) translated as careful in the King James Version of the Bible means “to be anxious about.”

Are we to take Paul’s words literally and be anxious about nothing? This life seems full of things to worry about. But, the scriptures are just as full of promises of what can happen when we let go of worry and anxiety and live joyfully amidst our trials and temptations.

If we dare take up Paul’s challenge to leave worry and anxiety behind us through the power of Christ’s atonement, we need to know how to do it. In the fourth chapter of Philippians Paul tells us how.

Philippians 4:4-9,13

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Let’s look closer at each verse:

Verse 4: Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

In this verse Paul greets those hearing his words with a cheerful salutation which seems to say not only that he is glad for the opportunity to be writing to them, but also urging them to be cheerful themselves. His message is a happy one. The entire gospel message is one of happiness and joy. In this verse Paul clearly sets the purpose of his letter — to teach the faithful at Philippi a way to embrace happiness in joy despite life’s frequent turmoil.

Verse 5: Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

Paul builds up his audience by reminding them of their Christ-like qualities which set them apart from others and reminds them that the Lord is near to them. Paul implies that the Lord is willing and able to help them when they act to glorify His name and do his will. Here moderation can be read as mild (meek) gentle, patient, as well as moderate, all attributes that Jesus Himself possessed.

There is no better way to begin to appreciate the positive aspects of our characters than to be reminded that the effort we put into gospel living is apparent in our lives. Maybe, just maybe, if we can be meek and patient in following the Master’s example, then perhaps we can do other things that seem to be out of reach.

Verse 6: Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Here Paul begins his challenge by using the absolutes of nothing and everything. We are not to be careful or anxious about anything, not a single thing. To accomplish this we must learn to be prayerful in new way. ‘Saying our prayers’ isn’t enough.

Thanking God for what we have and asking Him for the things we need is the beginning that we’ve all learned as a basic form of prayer. But letting go of all anxiety and worry requires going deeper. Going deeper into prayer isn’t difficult as much as it is time consuming. Paul hints to us that we must learn to let prayer consume us when he says “in every thing . . . let your requests be made known.”

While there may be times that we need to discipline ourselves to get down on our knees, this is not the attitude that will allow prayer to consume us. We are consumed only when we let go and begin spending time with God in a way that lasts throughout our day. This is not to say that our prayers at times will not still be urgent and even fervent. The word supplicate indicates that we can and should formalize our requests. But for us to let prayer reach our everything, we must invite God into the nooks and crannies of our lives. To do this, we must make time to ponder and discover for ourselves what we really want and need and then share this in a most intimate manner with our Father in Heaven.

Once, the prophet Joseph Smith wrote that he would almost daily seek solitude and “give vent to all the feelings of [his] heart in meditation and prayer.” When our feelings are given over to God, He will help us sort them out and then guide us, strengthen us, and put us to work sharing what we’ve learned. We must ourselves know what we need and we must acknowledge what we most deeply want in order to “let our requests be made known.”

Verse 7: And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The peace of God is a reference to the affects of the atonement of Jesus Christ. The atonement brings a very real peace to us when it is active in our lives. When we are relieved of the burdens of sin and are comforted and strengthened in our weakness, illness and grief we can experience a quiet divine peace or sense of rest in our lives. The word peace here is from the Greek word eirene (i-ray’-nay) which literally means “to join” or “set at one again.” This mirrors our English word atonement, which is an ‘at-one-ment,’ or a reconciliation.

Here Paul reminds his readers that it is the infinite atonement of Jesus Christ that will keep or protect our hearts and minds. And what do we need to be protected from? That’s right — worry and anxiety — those things that the evil one would use to destroy our faith and usefulness. When we are consumed by everything that is wrong or may go wrong, when we are discouraged about our lack of success or perceived success, we can not be properly concerned about our family and neighbors. To fully serve God we must surrender our fears and worries to Jesus Christ through His atonement.

Isn’t it wonderful that the atonement is there to help us overcome anxiety and guilt over sin? It is equally wonderful that the power of the atonement ‘through Jesus Christ’ is available to help us put aside worry about our weaknesses, our human failings, and the fear that often comes because of a lack of understanding. It enables us to move forward, doing good things that are possible only when we looking for opportunities rather than worrying about failings. The atonement is meant to help us succeed despite the failings and weakness. He gave us our weakness to lead us to humility. We should not resent weakness for it is God’s tool to bring us unto Him.

Verse 8: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Simply put, to do our part, we must learn to think positively and act humbly supported by the power He offers!

By positive thinking, I don’t mean the shallow kind of thinking that we sometimes use to convince ourselves to be more positive. We shouldn’t try to fool ourselves by reciting positive statements that we don’t feel are true in an attempt to believe them. Paul instructs us instead to focus our minds on all that is good and beautiful. As we learn to do this, heartfelt positive feelings will arise naturally. There is real power in heartfelt positivity. Many of us have room for improvement in our positive thinking. We need to learn this skill, as it is prerequisite to power and peace. The more we learn to see God’s hand the, more we are led to hope that He will help us overcome the obstacles before us.

Recent research in the field of positive psychology has shown that 80 percent of Americans today do not have the necessary ratio of positive to negative thoughts that it takes to flourish and be consistently happy.

We must learn to think about all that is true, honest or noble, just or right. Our sensitivity to personal revelation will be increased if we learn to spend time pondering these things as well as all that is pure, lovely, of good report or admirable. Our ability to notice and appreciate all that is positive will increase as well? Every minute, every hour that we spend looking for and appreciating all that is virtuous and praiseworthy is time we are not wasting worrying and judging ourselves and others.

To learn to lose ourselves in positive thought as Paul suggests, we need to learn to ponder and meditate as well as pray. As we do so, the Holy Ghost will guide and teach us and we will learn to banish needless anxiety and troubled thoughts.

The offer is gentle, the promise sure. Just as Jesus gently reminded Martha to let go of her cares and troubles and choose the good part, He will help us do the same.

Discovering what might be true, honest, just, pure, etc. is a topic of its own. But for now, suffice it to say that to make room for positive thoughts we must clean out some of the junk that clutters our minds. A good place to begin is by adding meditation to prayer. Again, meditation is a topic in its own right. Know this though — prophets, ancient and modern, recommend it to all those who would deepen their spirituality.

Here’s just one example:

President David O. McKay said, “We don’t take sufficient time to meditate. . . .” Many times you will be wrestling with problems, the solution of which can be spiritually discerned. . . . Don’t get so busy that you don’t have time to meditate.”

The scriptures are a wonderful place to find topics for meditation based on Paul’s list of virtues, but there are many others. We need to learn to stand up to Satan and begin to reject the constant negativity that he authors and offers to us as a grotesque laugh track for our world. Seeking positive things to fill our minds is a necessary part of laying a foundation of righteous power.

Verse 9: Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Meditation and prayer naturally leads us to confident action. This is actually the fun part. When we learn and grow through inspiration and learning, we can act upon what we have received to bless our own lives and the lives of others.

The Peace of God mentioned in this verse is the same as that mentioned in verse seven. It is a divine peace or quiet, a resting from the cares of the world made possible through the atonement. As we draw nearer to God he relieves us of our burdens.

Verse 13: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The result of our spiritual makeover is a new confidence that keeps fear and anxiety at bay, no matter what our circumstances in life. We gain strength to move forward in doing the things that lead us to realize our righteous desires. Real progress towards righteous goals is the result of allowing the Lord and His atonement to help us banish fear and anxiety from our lives.

If we are to accomplish what God excepts of us, we must reach out for His atoning power. It is possible to stop blaming our inaction and lack of progress on external circumstances and events. The power Paul points us to in these verses can carry us past all of the challenges and trials we face. The time and energy we waste worrying can be better invested in joyful days of righteous living that God intends for us.