We usually think about anxiety only in terms of what we fear. However, our fears often reveal what we value. We are afraid of losing something because we love something.

Many of those things are good. Family, health, work, stability, and relationships are legitimate blessings. The problem begins when a good thing receives a weight in our hearts that belongs to God alone.

This question changes our perspective. Instead of looking only at what frightens us, we also begin to examine what we desperately want to preserve, possess, or control.

Jesus puts our loves in their proper order. Therefore, anxiety can become an opportunity to examine not only our fears, but also our loves.

A concern may be legitimate and still become disproportionate. There is an important difference between responsibly caring about something and allowing that concern to dominate our thoughts and actions.

Therefore, two additional questions can help us examine the weight we are giving to our worries.

Distinguish Facts from Imagined Scenarios

First, we should ask whether our concern is based on facts or imagined possibilities. Paul instructs us to think about “whatever is true” in Philippians 4:8.

Anxiety often turns possibilities into certainties. Faith, however, calls us to distinguish between what we know and what we are merely imagining.

Do Not Let Tomorrow Consume Today

Second, we need to consider how much space the concern occupies. A matter belonging to tomorrow can consume so much of our attention that we fail to fulfill today’s responsibilities.

Anxiety promises to prepare us for the future. Yet, it often does the opposite: it prevents us from living faithfully in the present.

We cannot always prevent a concern from arising. However, we are called to consider how we will respond to it before God.

Anxiety can lead us toward isolation, irritation, a desire to control people and circumstances, or the endless construction of imagined scenarios.

Scripture, however, points us toward another path.

Therefore, the Christian response is not simply to say, “Stop worrying.” Instead, Scripture teaches us to bring our concerns before God.

In other words, we turn worry into prayer, fear into trust, and the desire for control into dependence on God.

Nevertheless, this does not eliminate our responsibility. We pray and work; we trust and plan; we rest in God and fulfill our duties.

Thus, learning how to deal with anxiety biblically does not mean abandoning our responsibilities. Rather, it means carrying them faithfully without assuming a place that belongs to God alone.