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Series: Wisdom for Work from Philippians
Devotional: 4 of 4
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:6-8)
I’ve heard Philippians 4:6-7 and Philippians 4:8 preached separately many times. But I’ve never heard these passages preached together. That’s a mistake because there’s a clear connection between anxiety and the things we choose to think about.
That truth has become more apparent as we’ve seen smartphones, social media, and 24 hour news services combine to create a culture of non-stop doomscrolling this past decade.
As Jonathan Haidt says in The Anxious Generation, “the great irony of social media,” is that “the more you immerse yourself in it, the more lonely and depressed,” and anxious, “you become.” Because most of what’s on social media and modern news services is not “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, or admirable.” It’s infotainment designed to make us addicted and anxious.
Of course, we can’t do our most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others if we are constantly anxious. So how can we “guard our hearts and our minds”? Here are 3 ideas.
First, experiment with my low information, low anxiety diet for 7 days. I haven’t read the news regularly in almost 10 years. And it’s not a coincidence that I’m far less anxious today than I was a decade ago.
Let me encourage you to give my low information, low anxiety diet a try. Delete all social media and news apps from your phone. Then set a reminder to email me in one week to tell me what important, true, and noble things you missed. (Spoiler alert: You won’t miss any. Your friends will tell you about what you truly need to know. Let them.) If that sounds too extreme, try this…
Second, confine when you check news and social media to set times—maybe the last 15 minutes of your workday. Need help avoiding the temptation to check outside those set times? Use an app like Freedom or a Brick device (which I am increasingly obsessed with).
Finally, read the news with the Holy Spirit. Whenever you do consume news and social media content, be sure you’re reading it with the Holy Spirit. And as you feel anxiety rising up within you, “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
