Many people don't think of anxiety as a sin, just like many people don't think of anger, love of money, seeking honor from men, hating your enemy, or telling white lies as a sin.

Many simply call such things weakness. As long as you call it a “weakness,” you will never be free from it. Jesus didn't come to save us from weaknesses; He came to save us from sin. If we confess something as sin, Jesus will save us from it. But if you try to give it a more polished name, you will never be free from it. Call something by the dirtiest name you can think of -- call lust, “adultery,” call anger, “murder,” call the love of money, “the hatred of God,” and you'll be free from it because you see what an evil it is.

If you think of AIDS and cancer only as serious as a cough or a cold, you are not going to take it seriously. Many people take these sins very lightly even though Jesus spoke so strongly against them. I don't blame them because I would say that their leaders and teachers have not taught these things to them. There is a great lack of Christian preachers and teachers who preach the whole truth of God and who do not seek the honor of men. There are few preachers who do not want anybody's money but want to speak the truth to lead God's people to spiritual help. It’s like a doctor who is not interested in your money but who is interested in leading you to health. There are very few preachers like that.

People also call anxiety a weakness. It is not just a weakness.

Three times in Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Universe, says, “Do not be anxious.” In the space of just ten verses, the Lord says “Do not be anxious” three times. This is the same Lord Who commanded us not to commit murder, not to commit adultery, and not to steal. Put them all together: “Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, and do not be anxious.” Which one is not a sin? Can you say, “Oh well, I'm anxious only once or twice a week?” That’s like saying, “Well, I murder people only once or twice a week” or, “I commit adultery once or twice a week, not too often.”

Why is it that we take some sins seriously, and not others? Because your teachers haven't taught you. Fear is not a weakness, it's a sin -- like murder is a sin. How do we know what is sin? If God says you shouldn't do it, then it is a sin. If God has said you must love your wife, even if your wife is an evil woman, you have to love her, because God said so. And if God has said not to do something, even if you don't think it is evil, don’t do it -- it is evil. It's not because I think adultery is bad. God has said, “Don't do it.” He has said, “Don't be anxious, and don't be afraid.” I want to see the things which God has said “don't do” as evil.

Anxiety destroys my fellowship with God. Anxiety says that God doesn't care for me. It is an insult to God. What would you think of a four-year-old child who is eating from the garbage bins? There are a number of them like that in our country. Unfortunately, they don’t have parents who care for them. Is our Heavenly Father like that? Does our Heavenly Father not care for us? It is an insult to put our Heavenly Father in the same category as the fathers of those children who are eating from those garbage bins. These children don't know where their next meal is going to come from -- they have a right to be anxious, because their earthly fathers don't care for them. But if you have a Heavenly Father and you're anxious, you're saying that your Heavenly Father is also in the same category.

“For this reason, I say to you, do not be anxious for your life” (verse 25). Don't be anxious for your life -- what you eat, what you drink, or for your body. Isn’t your life more than food body and clothing? Luke takes the example of the birds of the air -- they don't sow, they don't reap, nor do they gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. How many times have you seen a dead bird on the road? It is such a rare sight to see a dead bird on the road. I think I can count on my fingers the number of times in my entire life that I've seen a dead bird on the road. Where have you seen birds starving? It's such a rare thing. There are millions and millions of these birds on earth, and they get food even though they don't sow, they don't reap, and they have to go looking for food here and there. Who feeds them? Jesus said your Heavenly Father feeds them. He's not their Heavenly Father; He's your Heavenly Father. He's their Creator, and He feeds them, but with you, He is not just your Creator; He is your Father. Are you not worth much more than these birds?

I read a little poem once which is a very interesting. It is about two little birds talking to each other. The Robin said to the Sparrow, “I would really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so?” The Sparrow said to the Robin, “Friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.”

We need to remember that this is not just a lovely story. It is an insult to God to think that He doesn’t care for our every anxiety. 

What is the solution? The Bible says to be anxious for nothing in Philippians 4:6. It is an absolute statement, “Be anxious for nothing.” But we do need to do something about the cause of anxiety. Perhaps there's some problem that you are facing now, and you don't know how it will work out. What should you do? God doesn’t say to do nothing; He says to pray about it. Supplication means to make a specific request to God and tell God exactly what the problem is. After supplication, don't forget to complete the prayer with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is saying, ‘Thank you, Father, for hearing my prayer, and thank you for caring for me.” Giving God thanks is like a receipt -- an acknowledgment that my letter has reached God's presence and he received the letter -- that’s what I’m saying when I say, “Thank You for hearing me.”

When you do these two things, Philippians 4:7 says, then “The peace of God which is beyond comprehension, which we cannot even understand, will guard (guard is a military word -- like a fortress) your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.”

To not be anxious is a command we must obey. When I am free from anxiety, I will also be free from a lot to discouragement. This is a wonderful step that we must take.