Excerpt from Breakthrough Courage: 9 Habits to Conquer Fear and Build a Brave Heart
People are fearful – and social media and 24-hour news aren’t making things better. From pharmaceutical ads to quick-fix infomercials, the media traffics in fear. It sells, and we’re buying.
The rapid increase in depression is at an all-time high. In 2023, The National Institute of Health (NIH) found that over twenty-one million Americans struggle with some form of depression, with youth between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five years old being the most frequent victims.[1] People of all ages are suffering from panic, agoraphobia, and social and separation anxiety disorders. The mental health and counseling systems are overloaded.
The Most Noble Challenge
The famed German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, said: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”[2] But are we doing just the opposite? Could it be that most of our anxieties are based in allowing the things that matter least to rule over our hearts and minds? In our swirling, busy world, we often allow fear, anxiety, and doubt to rule and dictate our life. Jesus understands our dilemma and our tendency to worry and fret. Knowing this, He provided one of the most astute solutions ever given,
“I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Therefore, do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat? Or ‘What shall we drink? Or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:25-33)
In the valley of a worry-filled life, Jesus instructs us: quit worrying, start seeking; quit looking around you, and start looking up. He is saying—The Great Breakthrough to Courage is to “Seek first the Kingdom of God!” One noted clinical psychologist, Jordan Peterson, has said, “Seeking first the Kingdom of God…is the most profound and noble statement ever made to man.”[3]
Jesus, understanding the human condition of fear, worry, and anxiety, is challenging us to seek the highest good, the most noble cause of the universe–the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is proclaiming that if we start off with the right goal, the goal above all other goals—the Kingdom of God—all other things, things we think we need—job, finances, and family, will be taken care of. He is making an alarming breakthrough statement. Jesus is saying: “Quit stressing over material and financial stuff; God knows you need all these things. But instead, replace anxiety with a new focus on the Kingdom of God. If you make the Kingdom of God your highest aim, I’ll be sure that all secondary things will fall into place.”
This is the priority of Jesus and the first habit to breakthrough courage: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness! The most profound statement of the New Testament and possibly even in human psychology. Seek the highest and most noble. Realign your life around the most majestic goal of the universe and watch what God will do as a result.
The Total Answer to Our Total Need
The Kingdom of God is God’s total answer to man’s total need. Why is it the total answer? Because, unlike our world and circumstances, the Kingdom of God is reliable, consistent, and not subject to the whims of cultural and political change. The writer of the Hebrews described it as “the unshakable Kingdom” (Hebrews 12:28 MSG).
Jesus came proclaiming and demonstrating a new kingdom, a new way of living, an answer to life’s most difficult questions. One of the most astute thinkers and arguably one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, H.G. Wells, said: “Why here is the most radical proposal ever presented to the mind of man, the proposal to replace the present world order with God’s order, the kingdom of God.”[4] Wells was not a Jesus follower, and yet even he understood the revolutionary nature of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is an absolute—an absolute answer to every need. True reality is the reality found through the lens of the Kingdom of God.
Dr. Steve Holt
[1] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression
[2] https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/johann-wolfgang-von-goeth-quotes
[3] Jordan Peterson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_-6gqdJbnc
[4] E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, page 47.