Weighing the Weight of Stress and keeping focused on Jesus.

Following Jesus From the Edges

Weighing the Weight of Stress

Pastor Calvin Cook

June 4, 2026

Scripture Focus: Acts 2:42

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” — Acts 2:42

It has been what St. John of the Cross described as a long dark night of the soul. Not a night of sleeplessness but of stressfulness. A night where if the words before sleep “the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need” would not have been prayed and embraced the morning light would seem much different.

Stress seems to have become a constant companion in our day to day lives.

Financial pressures. Family concerns. Health issues. Uncertainty about the future. Political division. Many challenges. Business demands. The list never seems to end. If we are not careful, stress can become so familiar that we begin to accept it as normal.

Recently, as I have been reading through the Acts of the Apostles, I found myself wondering about the stress the early church and the early followers of Jesus, those who witnessed first hand his life, teachings, and presence must have faced.

Think about their circumstances.

Jesus had ascended into heaven. The disciples were entrusted with carrying the Gospel to the world. Persecution was beginning. Religious leaders opposed them. Governments viewed them with suspicion. Many believers faced rejection from family and friends. Resources were limited, and the mission before them seemed impossible.

Yet when I read Acts, I do not find a church consumed by stress.

I find a church consumed by devotion.

Acts 2:42 tells us they devoted themselves to four things: the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Certainly there were many other things signs and wonders associated with their response to the Gospel, but they were focused and fully devoted.

Notice what they were devoted to.

They were not devoted to worry.

They were not devoted to fear.

They were not devoted to endless speculation about what might happen next.

They were devoted to God.

Their lives were anchored in Scripture. They gathered regularly with one another. They shared meals and remembered Christ’s sacrifice. They prayed together and depended completely upon the Holy Spirit’s guidance and power.

Perhaps the difference between their response and ours is not the amount of stress they faced but where their devotion was placed.

Too often, when stress rises, we devote ourselves to things that cannot sustain us. We devote ourselves to news cycles, social media feeds, opinions, fears, and worst-case scenarios. We depend on medicine to heal us, counseling to cure us, and grasp at whatever satisfies us. We spend more time feeding our anxieties than feeding our faith.

The early church chose a different path.

They leaned into God’s Word.

They leaned into Christian community.

They leaned into worship and remembrance.

They leaned into prayer.

And through that devotion, God gave them peace, courage, wisdom, and strength.

Maybe the answer to the weight of stress is not found in carrying it better but in redirecting our devotion.

What if we became as devoted to Scripture as we are to our worries?

What if we became as devoted to prayer as we are to thinking about out problems?

What if we became as devoted to fellowship as we are to hiding away in our own misery and our fears?

Perhaps then we would discover what the early church already knew: when our devotion belongs fully to God, the weight of stress no longer has the final word.

Prayer

Lord, help me examine what I am truly devoted to. When stress and anxiety begin to weigh heavily upon me, draw me back to Your Word, Your people, Your table, and Your presence. Teach me to trust You more than I trust my fears and to depend upon You more than I depend upon my own understanding. In Jesus’ name, Amen.