Stress comes in all different shapes and sizes, but whatever its cause, none of us was made to be under constant stress and yet, that’s how many people are living. In a constant state of stress. Well, it’s time to do something about it.

A Stress Free Life?

Stress. For most of us, that word sends a shiver down our spine, and why wouldn’t it? Who wants to be under stress all the time? And that’s what it feels like for a lot of us, so what is it? Well, it’s a state of mental or emotional strain or tension, and my dictionary adds, "Resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances", although I’m not sure that’s always the case.

We’ll explore some of the main causes of stress in this series, but first, what sort of impact is stress having on our world? Well, a recent study conducted in Australia by the Psychological Institute (and by the way, I’m sure you’d probably find the same results no matter where you live) ... Well, the study found some interesting things about the reach and impact of stress.

Here are the headline findings: 12% of people reported experiencing levels of stress in the severe range, with young adults experiencing significantly higher levels of stress and significantly lower levels of wellbeing than the general population. One in three reported experiencing depressive symptoms, with ten percent of these being in the severe range. One in four reported experiencing anxiety, with nine percent of these in the severe range. Young adults, 18-25, reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population.

Although women reported significantly higher levels of perceived stress than did men, this didn’t lead to differences reported in their levels of anxiety, depression, or wellbeing. Those people experiencing family or recent relationship-breakdown and those separated reported much higher levels of stress and distress, on all measures. If the relationship-breakdown had occurred more than one year earlier, reported stress levels were about the same as the general population.

In the US, things appear to be more extreme. Seventy-three percent of people regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress. Almost half say that stress has a negative impact on their personal or professional lives, and the cost to employers in stress-related healthcare and missed work is estimated, in the US, to be about three hundred billion dollars a year.

No wonder we want a stress free life! That idyllic life by the beach is looking pretty good to a few of us at this point. Right? But that’s just not realistic and in fact, the reality is that a bit of stress in our lives isn’t a bad thing. We enjoy a challenge, for instance, and working under a bit of pressure sometimes produces really good results. It’s like a guitar or a violin. If the strings aren’t under the right amount of tension and stress, it just doesn’t work the way it was meant to. I know for instance after a longish holiday, say three weeks off over Christmas, I’m really looking forward to getting back into the cut and thrust of work. If we had no pressure, no deadlines, life would be missing something; and in any case, sometimes we’re hit by circumstances that put us under a lot of stress, whether we like it or not.

Take Jesus. He experienced huge stress. Luke 22:39-46:

He came out and went, as was His custom, to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed Him. When He reached that place, He said to them, ‘Pray, that you may not come into a time of trial.’ Then He withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and gave Him strength. In His anguish He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground. When He got up from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and He said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray, that you may not come into a time of trial.’

The fact that Jesus’ sweat was like drops of blood tells us just how severe His suffering was. This was stress, and it only got worse from here, as He was beaten and nailed to a cross. No, that completely stress free life isn’t a reality for any of us. Even the rich and famous, in fact sometimes especially those people, suffer enormous amounts of stress. How many superstars have died from drug overdoses? What were they doing there in the first place? What drove them to drugs? The pressure and the stress of fame.

So, sometimes stress is desirable; sometimes it’s unavoidable, and sometimes we experience it because of our reaction to a particular person or set of circumstances, and yet the Bible says don’t be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6).

So what sort of stress are you under right now? Is it the normal cut and thrust of life which, at the end of the day, you kind of enjoy anyhow? Then that’s probably not such a bad thing, is it? It’s manageable, and you know that with a few adjustments to your life, you could easily get things right under control. Then you’re probably in a good balance, but if the stresses that you’re under feel like a huge burden, like a heavy load that you’re carrying around twenty-four by seven ... well ... that’s not such a good thing. We’re not made to be under that sort of constant pressure and stress, and yet many people live their lives like that. That’s why we’re kicking the year off with this series called, "Stress Busters" because God has a lot of things to say about how to alleviate the stress that you’re under; lots of practical, powerful things to say.

Hey, why should that be a surprise to any of us? God cares so deeply about you; what you’re going through; what stress you’re under, and the stepping off point for that is what Jesus said. We see it in Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus said:

Come to Me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke of easy, and My burden is light.

Jesus wants to lighten your load, so over these coming weeks, we’re going to discover what He has to say about your stress, because Jesus didn’t say this lightly. Jesus didn’t say this flippantly. Jesus meant it – come to Me, all you who are weary and who are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Come on! Take My yoke upon you. Learn from Me. I’m gentle. I’m humble of heart, and with Me, you’re going to find rest for your souls.

Hey, that’s a powerful thing, and that’s why we’re doing a series over these next few weeks called, "Stress Busters" because God wants to deal with the stress in your life.

Stress we Put Ourselves Under

You and I have this habit of putting ourselves under pressure and stress needlessly. Don’t believe me? Well, right now, we’re going to chat about how we do that exactly, and what we can do about changing our habits, because there are more than enough things out there that are going to cause you and me stress, whether we like it or not. There are going to be situations and circumstances completely beyond our control that cause us stress: The loss of a loved one; a difficult boss at work; financial problems; health issues ... There are plenty of things out there that are going to come our way, whether we like it or not, that are going to cause us stress.

So, why would we possibly want to needlessly cause ourselves stress? Well, right now, we’re going to chat about the main three reasons that we cause ourselves stress. I’d be surprised if you don’t recognise at least one of them in your life.

The first one is physical. Sometimes we think of stress as an emotional thing, even a spiritual thing; and of course, it is those things, but the physical reality is that God has given you and me a body, and there are three main things that we do to abuse this amazing body that God has gifted us. We eat too much of the wrong stuff, we don’t get enough sleep, and we don’t get enough exercise. How many times have you heard someone (including me) banging on about our diet and exercise and sleep? And yet still the first and most obvious thing that we can get wrong when it comes to managing our stress is how we treat our body, so come on. If the hat fits, wear it. Are you sick of feeling tired? Are you sick of feeling bloated and stressed and exhausted? Then do something about it.

Last year, we had a whole series on the programme called, "Healthy living to a Ripe Old Age" and all of those messages in that series are available in the Resources section of the ChristianityWorks.com website, under the heading of Health. Grab them, listen to them, read the transcripts and please, if you’re struggling because you’re not treating your body properly, do something about it. 1 Corinthians 6:19:

For don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

God expects you and He expects me to look after this amazing body that He’s given us, and when we do, let me tell you, our stress levels drop dramatically.

The second thing that we do to put ourselves under stress needlessly is constantly second-guessing ourselves: Constantly telling ourselves, "I’m not good enough. I’m not fast enough. I’m not smart enough." You know what that’s called? Low self-esteem, and it might surprise you to know that this is a trap that I too find quite easy to fall into. Shocked?

Here’s how it works for me. I’m something of an achiever. I drive hard at things; I work hard; I try to deliver on-time ... It’s just who I am, and when...