Discipleship: Handling Stress and Pressure

This week's study on the topic of discipleship deals once again with a grab-bag of subtopics and brings it under the theme of pressure. The official Study Guide's title for Lesson 10 is Discipleship Under Pressure. The titles of each day from Sunday through Thursday use the term "Model." So one might expect these lesson to provide models for disciples to follow and apply. But that is not the case when you begin to read the text. These models are given as examples not to follow.

Going through this week's lesson, as I tried to figure out what positive things I could glean from these topics, I found myself going through the following thoughts --

When people face stress and pressure in their lives, what do they do? What do they turn to? Many people turn to various forms of addictions. It's a coping mechanism. Religious people frequently turn to their religion. Of these, Christians often turn to the Bible and God. Is this right, wrong, of indifferent? Or maybe the more relevant question is, how do Christians turn to the Bible and to God? In turning to them, do Christians attempt to "use" them to relieve and deal with their stress? Is "using" the Bible or "using" God right, wrong, or amoral? Is it right to expect solutions to all of life's problems in the Bible and in God? (What about the book of Job, for instance...? Or Ecclesiastes...? Or Lamentations...?) If religion, if the Bible, if God isn't really about solving life's stresses and pressures, then what are their purposes? What value do they have in and for life? After all, the Twelve disciples were right there with Jesus, and if anyone could have had answers to all life's problems, they should have had them.

I then summarized the "Models" of this week's lesson in my own words. It turns out that all of the inappropriate responses to pressure brought up in the lesson falls into the category of human desires:

• Desire to change the world to make it look like what we think it should look like. (Power Model)
• Desire to obtain worldly security and comfort through worldly means. (Greed Model)
• Desire to force and coerce people to make them see things our way. (Thunder Model)
• Desire to seek revenge upon those whom we believe have wronged us and are expressing perspectives contrary to our own. (Thunder Model, again)
• Desire to do God's work our way; relying on our own wisdom and strength, our own pride and self-confidence. (Repentant-Peter Model)
• Desire to avoid personal conflict and danger. (Flight Model)

It's interesting that everything in this list arises out of self-centeredness. So that got me thinking about how negative stress and pressure arise. Do they arise purely from external circumstances? Or are they generated internally? Do we bring them on to ourselves? Or do we exacerbate the stress and pressure when we dwell on them, internalize them, and mope about how they negatively affect us?

Looking at the list, I observe that Jesus, in one way or another, experienced the temptations to succumb to each of the desires. In other words, Jesus faced the same stresses and pressures that His disciples did. But He did not respond in the ways that His disciples did. What made the difference? Did Jesus simply find some Bible texts and claim the promises? Did Jesus pray and then somehow everything turned out right? Did Jesus' prayers ever seem to go unanswered? Did Jesus ever feel like His Father was distant and unresponsive?

Then my thoughts wandered to how we tend to react to stresses and pressures. And that seems to be the key to understanding this entire lesson: we tend to react. Whenever we react, we've already lost the battle. We've already placed ourselves under the power of people, things, and events that are causing stress. We've made ourselves slaves to circumstances. Reacting is our last ditch, and usually ineffective, attempt to reassert control over our lives and our environments.

I think that the main lesson for us this week is how to not become victims of stress and pressure; how to maintain control even during periods of stress and pressure so that we do not react in sinful and selfish ways.

How was Jesus able to remain in control of His thoughts, words, and actions, even when the stresses and pressures became extreme? I think there are four parts (at least) to how Jesus effectively dealt with stress:

1. Jesus knew and was confident in His identity. He knew He came from the Father and was returning to Him. He was the "beloved Son" of the Father. (John 13:3-4 and Luke 3:22)
2. Jesus knew and believed that His Father would never leave Him alone. (John 8:28-29)
3. Jesus knew the purpose for His life and death. (John 12:27-28, 18:37)
4. Jesus lived, not for Himself, but for others, and so He had a much greater motivation than just fulfilling His own desires. (Philippians 2:1-11)

I believe Jesus practiced the so-called spiritual disciplines such as prayer, studying Scripture, meditation, etc. But He didn't do these things only when things became stressful. He didn't do them simply to find answers and solutions to His immediate problems. He practiced these disciplines to be sufficiently prepared for when the stresses came upon Him. These disciplines kept Him in close relationship with His Father and gave Jesus the confidence and assurance about His Father, about Himself, and about His work. So when He encountered stresses and pressures, He could rely upon and trust in His Father and upon the relationship that was already there, even during those times when Jesus could not feel or sense His Father's presence.

And so once again my study circles around to the idea of trust: discipleship is about trusting God. It's about developing a relationship of trust with our Father. It is about listening to Him as He teaches us who we are, how much we matter to Him, and about the work that He wants us to do for Him. When we abide with our Father and really know who we are, we no longer have to react to stresses and pressures. We become able, in our Father's strength, to live above stresses and pressures. We are able to maintain our witness to God's character, even during the difficult times.