I am stressed, you are stressed, we are all stressed!   How is it in a society that is full of labour saving devices we fall victim to stress?   Even armed with a smartphone which can contain all our personal information and access globally to data on any subject, we end up being controlled by the smartphone!    Not you?   Try leaving it at home!

It is not good to have the adrenalin pumping in your veins all day.   Productivity decreases and health deteriorates.   This catches the boss’s attention!    Plants are introduced to improve the ambiance of the workplace.   The furniture is altered so that you may alternate between standing up and sitting down to operate the computer.    A table-tennis table appears in the ‘rest’ area.   And you get two weeks leave if you buy a puppy – such is the therapeutic value of a dog!

Various wellbeing practices have sprung up to address the ‘market’ in stressed out people.    Some are wholesome exercises such as regular attendance at the local gym.   Others tap into Eastern Religions of which yoga is the most popular.    These are easily recognised as they claim to be able to detect health problems and deal with them.    Seldom do the practitioners explain the nature of the power they harness.   They attempt the empting of your mind and the control of your breathing.

They come under the category of the devil’s schemes for which St Paul provides the Christian’s armour (Ephesians Chapter 6 verses 11 to 18).    Whatever gains these practices can claim they take the user away from Christ to dependence on another god and need to be repented of (Exodus Chapter 20 verse 3).

Jesus invitation to the stressed to be linked to himself and together we will carry your load (St Matthew Chapter 11 verses 28 to 30).   He explains how this can be done in the passage (St Matthew Chapter 6 verses 25 to 34) contained in the barcode below.    The benefit of putting Christ first in your life are spelled out in verse 33.