Living Today Without Borrowing Tomorrow's Trouble

Blog by Alan Fadling

Anxiety in our cultural context has not diminished since the publication of my latest book, A Non-Anxious Life, in February 2024. The hunger and thirst I hear from those who’ve read and responded to the book continue to be deep and heartfelt. I’ve spoken to Christian leaders who struggle to imagine what it would actually look like to live in the non-anxious way of Jesus. I’d like to share what I’ve continued to learn in my ongoing journey with anxiety, especially learning not to worry about tomorrow.

I’ve shared how anxiety has been a lifelong struggle for me. As I was writing the book, I realized just how often anxiety had driven me and animated a lot of my work. But living in constant worry about tomorrow is not the same as preparing well for tomorrow. Busyness wound up by anxiety is not the same as productivity rooted in peace.

Jesus’ words about anxiety in Matthew 6 continue to help me. There he reminds us that we needn’t worry about our lives, about our needs being met, or about our uncertain future. He’s not telling us to ignore the realities in front of us, but rather to trust a deeper reality that undergirds us. But maybe like me you’ve worried plenty about these things.

I don’t hear Jesus laying down the law about my anxiety. I hear him reminding me what life in the kingdom of his Father in heaven is like. It is a life in which everything we most deeply and truly need is provided. It is a life that is rich because it is lived in communion with the One who is life. And because God is already present in our tomorrows, we needn’t try to get there ahead of him through our worrying.

Worrying about tomorrow has been an especially challenging habit to break. What often happens is that an unpleasant surprise startles me and my anxiety kicks in on autopilot. Almost without thinking, I begin to envision dire futures that could result. Anxiety offers itself as a consultant in this anxious attempt at time travel.

But the Prince of Peace suggests that in worrying about tomorrow we never gain as much as we think we do. Planning for tomorrow—that can be a very fruitful activity. Trying to imagine countless dreadful scenarios about tomorrow usually hasn’t been as productive for me. We think that worrying prepares us for the future, but in reality it drains us of the energy to actually live today. I can’t live tomorrow today, no matter how much anxiety urges me to try.

When Jesus tells us not to worry, he is also saying that peace about my life, about my needs, and about my future is possible. Reminding myself that peace is possible is important. I’ve spent too much time somewhere in the shadows of my imagination believing that peace was simply not possible—at least not for me. But no matter how deeply ingrained my habits of anxiety are in my body, my thoughts, my emotions, even my instincts, I can become practiced in the ways of peace when I place myself as a student at the feet of the Prince of Peace.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been reading the Gospel of John on a monthly cycle. It strikes me that there were plenty of moments in Jesus’ experience that would have profoundly tempted me to worry.

For example, in chapter 2, his mother Mary comes to him with a problem: There’s no wine left at the wedding. I never like being put on the spot to solve a problem. It causes me to feel anxious. But rather than becoming overwhelmed, Jesus responds and acts in harmony with the abundance and power of his Father in heaven.

Later in that same chapter, Jesus is provoked by how the temple had been turned into a marketplace, and often a dishonest one at that. He responds by driving the sellers out of the temple courts, which triggers a strong reaction against him. I hate conflict, and anxiety has a way of keeping me from doing anything that could cause it. But Jesus is completely free in the peace of God to let injustice move him to action.

In the Gospels, I never see Jesus anxiously rushing to solve a problem. He never worries about how tomorrow’s pressures will unfold. Instead, he trusts his Father, and that trust allows him to be fully present in each moment. He faces real danger, real disappointment, real opposition, real conflict, and yet navigates it all with grace and peace. The more I read the Gospels, the more inspired I am that he can teach me how to do the same in my own life.

When I hear Jesus called the Prince of Peace, I realize that he really is the master of peace. Peace is not something theoretical for him. It is something he embodies from his Father, who is the God of peace, and from the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of peace. We might even say that just as God is love, God is also peace. And if Jesus lived free from the anxiety of tomorrow, then with his help I can learn to do so as well.

For Reflection:

• What are some of the circumstances or situations that have most recently tempted you to fill your moments with worrying? 
• Where do you feel pulled into tomorrow’s uncertainties instead of today’s possibilities? 
• How much has your worrying actually helped you? In your experience, has it borne good fruit or bad fruit?