Is Anxiety a Sin?
As I’m sitting on the couch of my therapist’s office, a spot that typically brings comfort and calm, I catch a glimpse of my Bible and wonder, is anxiety a sin? I make a mental note of my query as I proceed listening to the tools and tactics being provided by the expert I’m paying. After a successful session, I head home to research anxiety and faith, knowing my heart and mind need a solution to this complex query swirling in my brain. I’ve struggled with anxiety for so long as I can remember and have been a faithful and God-believing soul for just as long, but I’ve never once stopped to contemplate if anxiety is a sin until today.
I gather each my Bible and my notes from therapy and sit to teach and inform myself on this topic. I don’t need to know what the world says in regards to the anxiety that I’m sometimes immobilized by and consistently working to beat. I would like to know what the Lord says in regards to the troubles I’m facing and the anxiety that I feel I’ve been created with.
With intentionality, focus, and an open mind for biblical truth, I start reading. What I find is more hopeful and helpful than I could have imagined.
Sin must spring from free will, and anxiety isn’t a selection.
The Bible discusses sin as something people select, either to do or to not do— each come from selection. Anxiety is a human struggle, not a revolt against God. I don’t get up and decide to be stuffed with anxiety, yet I often am. Identifying the reason behind my anxiety has helped manage it, however it has not eradicated it. While I don’t select anxiety, I do select God each and each day.
“But everybody is tempted after they are dragged away by their very own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it’s full-grown, gives birth to death.” – James 1:14-15
This scripture highlights that sin originates from personal decisions and private desires, not from things which are outside of human control. For some, anxiety is outside of human control. It is chemistry, not selection. Jesus even acknowledges anxiety, not as a selection, not as an ethical failing, but as a natural human experience. Scripture from Peter & Matthew provides evidence of this, in addition to the care and compassion given to those facing anxiety.
“Cast all of your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7
“Can any one in every of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”- Matthew 6:27
Anxiety is an involuntary biological mechanism for survival, not a trust issue. Additionally, worry and anxiety usually are not the identical thing.
I’m not a health care provider, but in asking mine, they’ve said time and time again that anxiety shouldn’t be a selection. It is a mix of complex aspects of genetics, brain chemistry, and life experiences. Knowing this fact is crucial for understanding because it pertains to faith and sin. In the Bible, Jesus not only acknowledges anxiety as a natural human experience, but he provides grace-filled resolutions to maneuver beyond it.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7
This verse first acknowledges anxiousness after which encourages us to bring our worries to God in prayer. It provides sinless responses and coping mechanisms for anxiety. The problem in theology and scripture with sin and anxiety isn’t within the anxiety itself but within the response and response to the anxiety, which will be sin. Anxiety and anxiety’s responses are different discussions, different pieces of human experience to critique and analyze. It’s also essential to look at and recognize that worry and anxiety usually are not created equal. They usually are not the identical thing. Oftentimes, people assume they’re a synonym for each other. They usually are not. Worry is temporary. Anxiety shouldn’t be. Scripture allows for anxiety to be experienced outside of sin. The sin comes once we allow our thoughts to shape our trust in God. Anxiety shouldn’t be a trust issue.
Jesus experienced anxiety.
Jesus understands anxiety. He knew suffering, emotional distress, and extreme anguish greater than anyone, and he was sinless. His time within the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion is an example of his involuntary human emotion. Matthew 26:38 – “Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the purpose of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’” While his experience is nothing as compared to ours, he acknowledged his anxiousness and called on those around him to remain and bear witness.
“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the bottom.” Luke 22:44
He didn’t condemn anxiety and even tie shame to it, as a substitute, he modeled reply to it, through prayer and leaning on God.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I provide you with. I don’t give to you because the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and don’t be afraid.” – John 14:27
Jesus doesn’t say that we shouldn’t feel troubled. Instead, he tells us the answer is peace. He provides resolutions and responses for the human experiences he knows life will create.
Anxiety as a sin implies an absence of grace, and now we have a grace-giving God.
The Bible never explicitly states that anxiety is a sin, however it does consistently state that God’s grace is unconditional. We are blessed with a grace-giving God that meets us in our struggles– anxiety included. To those that are anxious, God’s response shouldn’t be condemnation. His response is grace and love. In all of our human imperfections, God’s grace is sufficient and abundant.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I’ll boast all of the more gladly about my weaknesses in order that Christ’s power may rest on me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9
While I find hope in scripture and the Lord’s truth, I also know that this easy knowing won’t eliminate anxiety from my life. I do know that eventually and unexpectedly, it is going to rise again. The relief is available in reminding myself that when anxiety comes, I’m sheltered by a faith that provides me resources more sacred than those I pay for within the seat of a therapist. Comfort and peace come during anxiety by trusting God and giving myself grace for the times my body’s response is one in every of anxiety. It’s meditating on Matthew 6:34-
“Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall be anxious for itself.”
It’s reminding myself to remain in the current, in the suitable now, and actively selecting God’s peace, since it’s there, at all times– waiting for me.
What a gracious God now we have, one that gives compassion, peace, and beauty to individuals with anxiety. A God that reminds us we usually are not less faithful or less worthy because of tension. A God that sees us, anxiety and imperfections included and guarantees to walk it with us.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/sdominick
