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Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"

According to a Wall Street Journal article, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an 18% growth in the profession of therapy by 2033. We are entering a new age of therapy. 

We live in a free market economy. We produce goods and services to meet the demand that is present in our country. Therapy does not grow by 18% if there is not a corresponding 18% increase (or projected increase) in demand.

But how can that be? We are at the pinnacle of opulence and comfort here in 2025 America. We have more than any of our ancestors could have dreamed of. AI writes our papers, vaccums our floors, and tells us what we want to buy from the comfort of our couch. Long gone are the days when we had to walk uphill one-mile in the snow, every day, just to get to school! The struggles of WWI and WW2 are things of history. Our unfair working conditions that we grieve to management have more to do with the location of the water cooler than with deadly labor conditions. Even the poorest among us would be princes and royalty in poorer countries. 

That is because true peace comes from lack, not abundance. Moses warned the Israelites about a time when they would have abundance and turn from God. 

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

You have heard the saying, "idle hands are the devils playground?" Well, the luxuries that our ancenstors fought so hard to obtain have given us so much idle time that we fill it with the things that cause anxiety. Television, computers, and cell phones have overtaken us to the point that neural pathways in our brains are askance from the moment of childhood, when we begin playing with cell phones and consuming hours of video entertainment. 

We have lost the art of peopling. And peopling is necessary in places of lack. God's people are the greatest source of supply in this category.

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

If you would go to poorer countries, I guarantee you that the incidence of mental health conditions that need therapy are much lower than ours. There seems to be a relationship with opulence and the need for therapy. Lack drives mental toughness whereas luxury paves the way for weakness.

Lack drives the man to the cross, whereas luxury leads the man to self-reliance and isolation.

And, in full disclosure, I have availed myself of therapy at the Veterans Administration - I found it quite helpful! Yet that was not my anchor in mental health. It was a helpful practice, but it would have been shallow without the hope of Christ, and the peace that he brings.

Matthew 6:30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious."

I wish the Bureau had projected an 18% increase in the pastorate or church staff. Yet, we toil for peace in places outside the true author of peace. We long for peace, we are just looking in the wrong places. There is no greater cure than surrendering all to the Creator and enjoying him fully in fellowship with disciples, who are being disciples, and who are making disciples. 

Therapy can be good, but God is always greater!

Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.