Where do you turn in time of anxiety, fear, or uncertainty?  The world tends to turn to their accomplishments, their bank accounts, their talents, their vocations, their friends/family, their government, their (fill in the blank).  At face value, these sorts of things might seem to make sense until we realize that someone can always do some things better than we can, our bank accounts can bottom out in no time, someone else will always be more talented than we are, our jobs can be gone in a flash, our friends/family can forsake us, our governments can fail, and so on.  In a nutshell...there is absolutely nothing, inside or outside of us, we can depend on to ease our anxieties, fears, and uncertainties...not our accomplishments, our bank accounts, our talents, our vocations, our friends/family, our governments...even our faith.  There is nothing, that is, except Christ.  Speaking on John 14, Luther writes as eloquently as ever:

Christians can depend on nothing except Christ, their Lord and God.  For the sake of Christ, they surrender everything and declare, "Before I deny or leave my Christ, I will abandon food and drink, honor and possessions, house and property, spouse and child--everything."  A Christian's courage cannot be fake or weak.  It must be genuine and certain.  For Christians cannot encourage themselves with any temporary thing on this earth.  Instead, they cling only to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died for us.  So Christ will say, as he promises in this passage [Jn 14.16-17], "Because you acknowledge me, you have this advantage and this comfort.  Your courage won't mislead you, for your Helper is the Spirit of truth."  All other courage comes from the spirit of lies--a false spirit that cannot please God.  But whatever Christians do, or suffer, for their faith in the Lord Christ is done for the truth.  They have done what is proper and right.  They can boast truthfully and joyfully that what they have done is pleasing to God and the angels.  Christians can feel so confident that they don't have to fear the devil or the world.  They don't have to be afraid of any threat or terror.  Let this encourage you, for nothing on earth can comfort you more during times of need than a confident heart.

(from Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional / LW 24:119)

The anxiety, fear, and uncertainty of this present day is unlike any faced by many of us before.  While economic downslides, job losses, foreclosures, etc. certainly pale in comparison to the suffering and hardship faced by countless millions around the world every day, for many around the world, these days are grim.  Let us not cling to "any temporary thing on this earth," for if we do we shall surely find ourselves disappointed.  Let us instead "depend upon nothing except Christ" and realize that in him we truly have nothing to fear.

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