LESSON 11: STRESS LEVEL

Ready

“Therefore, do not be anxious . . . . But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:31–34).

Set

We traveled to East Texas for a rare out-of-town weekday game. It was early in the season. The beauty of Texas weather is that we can play baseball and softball early in the season. The downside is that these early-season games in January and February can be cold. On this day, the sundown temperatures approached 30-degrees.

As we warmed up, I noticed a difference between our team and their team. We were bundled up in multiple layers; they were in light windbreakers. Our hands were in our pockets; theirs were holding a bat or ball. I could see in our players’ eyes a stress level of playing in this weather, an anxiety about having to play when it was so cold.

I tried to address this in pre-game with the team. Ignore the cold. Hands out of pockets. It didn’t work. The team played like they couldn’t wait to get back in the heated vans.

Similar to stick-to-itiveness, our anxiety and stress levels relate to how we face obstacles and struggles. We are tempted to become anxious with increasing stress levels when we face obstacles and struggles. Again, the obstacles and struggles aren’t controllable. How we face them is.

Jesus speaks to this in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, “Do not be anxious about your life” (Matthew 6:25). Why? Because worrying doesn’t help, and God is in control anyway. Anxiety and stressing out are wasted energy. They focus on things outside of our control instead of doing what we can to actually focus on the task at hand.

Jesus concludes these verses by saying, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:31–34).

The ultimate controllable is the first one we looked at: faith.

We control whether to place our faith in Jesus and each day we control whether to trust that day to Jesus. Why wouldn’t we trust Jesus—the One who loves us enough to die for us and knows the future before it happens—with our day?

God loves us and stands ready to help us, calm us, and prepare us for anything we face. Shouldn’t we trust him?

Go

1. Think of a situation where you felt stress on the field. How did you deal with it?
2. Read Matthew 6:25–34. What are some reasons Jesus says for trusting him instead of feeling stress and anxiety about adverse conditions?