Slow Living – A Biblical Approach Against Anxiety
By Ronel / December 23, 2024 / 3 Comments / Christian Living
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term ‘Slow Living’, it is a life style chosen by those who want to beat anxiety and live at a much slower pace. But Slow Living isn’t just about pacing yourself. It is also a life style where you choose to be intentional with your thoughts and decisions and much less impulsive. Slow Living’s general overview is the fact that you are moving in the exact opposite direction than society. We all know how busy our lives have become and a huge part of this is because society has made it that way.
Let’s take for instance, fashion. People buy fashion based on trends. When the one trend ends, people spend loads of money to look on-trend again. Let’s look at business as well. If you want to move up the corporate ladder, you’ll need to put in more hours in a day. Society also attracts us with beautiful things and people want those beautiful things. They want to own better and have more. Thus, people glue together so many business projects in order to get what they desire. If you are one of those people living in a congested town, you will know that you need to move at their pace. In traffic and everywhere else.
Point is, people are busy! Busy, busy, busy. Not many people take breathers any more. Between work life, family and recreation, there is not much left. When you reach a certain age or the Holy Spirit comes and commands you to just stand still for a bit and breath, you suddenly realize that you have not been living at all. You were just getting by and surviving yet another day filled with a rush and so much anxiety.
Let me confirm my thoughts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a busy life style. If you are able to keep it up and if it does not cause any health issues and especially if you are able to keep it up and spend time with God as well, then this blog might not be for you. But if you are anything like me, realizing that the day’s rush just made you breath uneasy, or you just realized that you could not spend time with the Lord due to your unending amount of tasks; then please read this blog till the end.
I came across a video of a lady that transitioned to this type of ‘Slow Living’ lifestyle. I was even more interested when I heard that it could help you with anxiety issues. I was sold by the time I learned that this lady is also Christian. Truth is, Slow Living is Biblical. Yes, you won’t find this term in the Bible. But people from those days never labeled these things the way we do today.
I read a book once that said the following: if you do God’s will, you will become less busy. It does not take any Scripture for us to qualify this logic. God’s will for your life is very specific. Down to the very smallest task. But there are a few Scriptures that I can share with you to qualify that Slow Living is in fact Biblical. Because if it is Biblical, we have the freedom to pursue it freely.
Matthew 6:34 – Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.
We only have to deal with today. It is not to say that planning ahead is sinful. But do you lie awake at night about the day of tomorrow?
Philippians 4:6,7 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Have a habit of not being able to wait? So you start getting anxious and use your own abilities to make things happen? If we only could develop the ability to wait upon the Lord. Things will happen in time. In His time.
Proverbs 25:28 – A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
Oh, how we all struggle in this department. Being intentional is the exact opposite of being unable to control yourself. Wise decisions and slow paced thinking is true evidence that you are able to control yourself.
Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Patience is one of the most precious things when we want to escape from our ‘fast forward’ lives. Part of living a fast paced life and part of acting on impulse is our inability to wait.
Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
One doesn’t need to commit intellectual suicide to know that the world wants us to look exactly like they do. Sure this Scripture refers to sin. But is it not also sin to become so busy that you do not even have time for the Lord?
These are but a few Scriptures that paints us a picture of pacing yourself, being patient, being intentional and not acting on impulse, and following the will of God and not your own will. I can also share with you some of the practical things I did to transition to this Slow Living life style.
- To Do Lists – I do not even write in my daily planner anymore. I only use my Alexa app to make a simple to do list. I schedule my appointments and I keep my priorities in order. God is obviously number 1 on that list of priorities.
- Learn To Say No – This was by far the hardest thing for me to do. I’ve always struggled with self-worth issues and part of making myself feel validated was saying yes to things I didn’t have time for. The product of this was loads of anxiety and a lie to say that it was no trouble at all. What was I thinking?
- A Changed Mindset – God helped me form an intentional mindset because I always felt overwhelmed with all my tasks. My daily goal is to grow closer to Him. The chores of that day need to be in the minority. That means a perfect relationship with God, not a perfectly clean house. Because in heaven, I won’t have this house anymore.
- Give Yourself Some Grace – It is okay to breath. It is okay to smell the flowers. And it is okay to give my infant to my husband so I could eat my meal in peace.
- Is This God’s Will? – A basic process of doing some introspection and spending time asking God some very precise questions. “Is this Your will or is this my will?” Am I doing this to somehow impress God or did I just add something that God never intended me to do in the first place.
- Routines And Spontaneous Acts – Oh, how I love routines! They are specific, they are predictable, and they hold you accountable. In the back of my mind I always knew there had to be a balance between this and being spontaneous. Truth is, I made some very unrealistic goals and I could never quite reach them. Stick to your simple routine and do the rest as the Holy Spirit puts it one your heart. The Holy Spirit, after all, loves being spontaneous.
- Clutter – Yes, clutter in your mind. Why am I already stressed about next year? Can I say without a doubt that I’ll still be here? I have today! Yesterday isn’t mine anymore and I am not guaranteed tomorrow, for the Lord may come or call me home.
I’m so happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
Dearest reader. The slow living life style is very close to my heart and I appreciate that it helped you in some way. Yes there is a lot of misinformation out there about this. I am planning on revisiting this topic in the near future and I do hope you will find it helpful as well.
This is a topic close to my heart cheers, where are your contact details though?