I will mention only four of the special marks that distinguish man from animals. Remember we are here answering the question, "Why is it that humans can worry?" I propose that they are capable of worry because they are time, self, God, and moral aware. There are other such characteristics, but they are less applicable to our topic. These built-in parts of man are called man's nature. They reflect God's own person because man was made in God's image.
Now before you go on blaming God for this and wishing you were oblivious to time, remember Gods special purpose for mankind. Genesis 1:27 states that God created man and woman to have similar characteristics to God so that human beings could relate to Him and have fellowship with Him.
FOUR PARTS TO MAN'S NATURE
|We do not just live within time, we observe time. Verbal tenses are built into our languages. We make the best of the present situation by taking the lessons of the past and anticipating our future needs.
|We are conscious of our person and its needs. We use names and relate to others. Selfishness is when we seek our own needs apart from the consideration of others. Love is when we make our decisions in light of the needs of others.
|We can deny God's existence, but an eternal powerful God stands in the backs of our minds that gives us a sense of worship and awe. In a crisis man seeks God for understanding. We do not say this is the right understanding of God, but that somehow God is related to our lives on earth.
|Because of our conscience, we know that some decisions, thoughts and activities are good while others are wrong. Violation of these standards add to our insecurity and anxieties.
So why is it that man can worry? I would at this time propose the combination of man's time and self awareness. Because man is conscious of his needs, he can anticipate those needs for the future. In contrast to what is sometimes suggested, he does not have special needs which make him worry. These things do not make him worry. The squirrel and flower have needs just like man but they are not aware of them like man is.
Before we go on, though, I want us to agree that worry is not just some chemical maladjustment in our bodies. Now pay close attention to me. I am not denying that our body chemistry is upset by worry; it is. I am stating that it is important for us to discern that man is not just some material blob. These four characteristics all flatly deny mankind to be a simple material object. Man, for example, has a spiritual nature.
Because of this, we must deny that chemical solutions will eliminate worry. They can lessen it; distract us from our worry, but any solution which does not take our immaterial part of our lives into consideration, will be limited. They will not provide real peace. Drugs dull awareness and focus.
More seriously, these drugs can further strip a person's ability to affirm these special Godlike distinctives. For example, some drugs strip away a man's future and moral awareness. These drugs can perhaps help limit extreme and dangerous responses, but that is not the way millions of dollars of drug prescriptions are being used today for anxiety. Man can worry because he is made in Gods image and has an ability to be conscious on how he will care about his needs for the future.
Let me now share with you special insights from the scriptures on why man worries.
We will see that worry is not natural.
We were never designed to handle worry.