When we succumb to the cacophony of doom predictions we hear in the news and read online and are otherwise bombarded with, we are being worldly. Fortunately Scripture tells us how to fight this kind of worldly thinking by being transformed by the renewing of your mind. And the way to that renewal is to fill your mind with Scriptural truth. And the truth that most fights fear and anxiety is properly understanding God’s sovereignty.

A couple of days ago, I was in the kitchen making tacos, and the TV was on in the other room, and the network news broadcast started. And I heard nearly the whole thing.  While there were stories on a number of topics, they were all basically the same. Whether they were about the economy, politics, the weather or crime the story was the same; things have never been this bad and you should be afraid.

And it is not just the network news and the so called mainstream media, although they are certainly industry leaders, after all one of the founding fathers of American mass media once quipped “no one ever went broke predicting the end of the world.” The alternative media in many of its various forms gleefully joins in chorus too.  You could hardly be blamed if you didn’t realize that violent crime in the US has been declining for decades, and that as a nation the US is in a period of great prosperity that has lasted for decades or that the number of hurricanes has been declining since the 1990s.

I’m not saying that everybody experiences safety and security or prosperity in the same way (and I’m specifically talking about in the U.S.) or that there is no violence or wickedness in society. But what I am saying is that the narrative that these are the most perilous of times is false.

And I’ll go a step further, buying into the narrative and being overcome with fear and anxiety is sinful. Witness Philippians 4:4-7.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

“Do not be anxious” gets the headlines, but notice the other commands: 1) rejoice always 2) rejoice 3) let your reasonableness be known 4) make your requests known to God.

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