God Motivation and the Cold we Accept

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,
        but a good word makes him glad.
(Proverbs 12:25)

Anxiousness is probably a far bigger problem for me than I even realize during a normal day.  Such is the case because, I believe, it has become a habit.  I worry about my family and their safety.  I worry about what our next steps in life will look like and how I'll be spending those 40+ hours a week in the next season.  I worry about money and whether or not certain income streams will remain so that we can pay our mortgages.  Now these worries for me aren't normally crippling.  The combination of them is more like a mild cold you wrestle with all through the winter.  It's hard to know at certain points whether or not your nose is drippy because there's a draft or because you're a little bit sick.  But you live with it because, well, that's just the way it is and probably most other people are battling that "cold" too.  Then there are other times though that you really feel it; it weighs you down, as the verse at hand says.  One or two of those things that you feel it's your responsibility to take care of gets a little shaky and you start to get more flu-ish than just sniffly.  You could use a good word.

Such encouragements can come in different ways.  We might have a friend identify with us or point out the positives in life.  "Look at all the things that are stable and going well," she might say.  Or it might be that a family member gives that reminder that he is here for you as a support.  Those things are helpful.  But then it might be that something you've been hoping for or waiting on finally begins to take shape or come within grasp.  Someone who is sick might take a turn for the better.  That phone call or email comes through like a ray of sunshine to be that "good word that makes [you] glad."

I believe it's OK to be lifted up by such things.  We wouldn't be told in the Scriptures that we're to be good neighbors and tender encouragers if it weren't so.  But we really miss it in life if we don't lay hold of that one good word which promises an eternity of gladness--that good word of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He died and was raised; His blood was poured out for sinners like us and His life restored incorruptible as the prototype for His followers.  Yes, this is that over-arching good word that should guard all disciples from despair.  The God motivated mind and heart says that worry can be set aside; Jesus has removed the weight that otherwise would crush us forever.