On Keeping Calm

Keep calm and carry on.

I like this old slogan. I am making it my own.

I have found it helpful, and I think it expresses some biblical sentiments.

It’s helpful because so often the only option we have is to, well…um, keep calm and carry on.

It says when you don’t know what to do, don’t panic. Keep going. Try not to fret over what is. By God’s grace, life has a way of sorting itself out. Perspective and peace will come as you move.

But this slogan is more than catchy and self-helpy. It also does a decent job of expressing some very biblical concepts.

Keep Calm

Keep calm connects with the Biblical idea of resting in God. Everywhere in the Bible God asks us to trust him (John 14:1). Trust and obey. Follow him. Believe. Lean not on our own understanding but lean on Him (Proverbs 3:5-6). Pray to him, and he will give us peace (Philippians 4:7). Go to him with every care (1 Peter 5:7). All of these concepts capture a slice of what it means to trust God and rest in him. The only way I will find calm is by trusting and relying on God. And when I tell myself to keep calm, I can use this as a reminder to trust God and as a declaration that I will trust God.

Carry On

Carry on connects with the idea of perseverance and steadfastness. Paul tells us to forget what lies behind but press on to what lies ahead (Philippians 3:12-14). In other words, do not obsess over the past. Do not replay that moment, that sin, that failure, that fear over and over and over again. Keep calm and carry on! Put your trust in the Lord and keep going! Endure! Stand!

The Opposite

The opposite option is a favorite scheme of the devil: Panic and obsess. Our adversary would love for us to freak out and get stuck, to put our minds on repeat, to obsess over every possible scenario, to coddle doubt, to rerun our mistakes, to wring our hands over the news.

But the God of the Bible tells us to keep calm and carry on.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.” -Psalm 42:5-6