Is It Sinful To Be Anxious?
Is anxiety sinful? I’ve asked myself that question many times over the past few years of my life. Many things cause us to fear, fret, and wonder with uncertainty how things will play out. Will my family be healthy? Will my parents be ok? Will I still have a job? Will I be faithful for the rest of my life?
Add into the mix that these are truly historic times for us. And often, historic times produce anxiety.
The question we ponder today is what does the Bible teach us about how to handle our anxieties.
is the bible clear about anxiousness?
If you were to look up the words anxiety, worry, and anxiousness in an ESV bible, here are the stats you would get:
Anxiety: Listed 5 times in the OT, 3 times in the NT
Worry: Listed 0 in the OT, 1 in the NT.
Anxious(ness): Listed 7 times in the OT, 19 times in the NT.
If we limit our study to the New Testament, 14 instances of the above words are tied to Jesus and 9 are tied to Paul.
If I were to ask you: “What does Jesus and Paul have to say about anxiety or worrying?” How would you respond? Take a moment to formulate an answer………….(do it)
You might say something like: “Well, they tell us to not be anxious”. And while that is correct, in a sense, have you ever thought about how unhelpful that actually is? This is precisely why we must not gloss over the biblical data. On the surface we simply assume that the Bible, and specifically Jesus, is telling us to not have anxiety. Some even say that to have anxiety is sinful because we have been instructed not to.
is it sinful to have anxiety?
These types of teachings regarding the sinfulness of worry/anxiety are often pulled from one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible, Philippians 4:6:
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.
Our minds will, if we are not careful, compound guilt upon us because “the verse says do not be anxious! But I am anxious! I must not have enough faith!” But this is the importance of looking at all that the Bible says about a given topic before coming to conclusions. What else does the Bible say?
Paul was anxious
Paul wrote “Do not be anxious” in Philippians 4:6, but he also wrote just two chapters earlier:
I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. (Php 2:28)
Paul also wrote:
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Co 11:28 )
This now introduces a new dynamic for us, doesn’t it? Paul, who can say “do not be anxious about anything”, also confesses to having feelings of anxiousness twice in his letters. Both of them are tied to the pressure of managing the many churches he is over. (shocker)
I believe this should free us from guilt when we feel anxious. Remember the context of these letters Paul is writing, both in Philippians and in Corinthians, he is writing letters to the churches as their elder. These letters would be read to the whole congregation. We must ask, why would Paul include these confessions in his letters that would be read aloud? This is speculation on my part, but perhaps one reason is because Paul wanted to model what to do with his anxiety?
A new way to deal with worry
The Bible isn’t teaching us: “Don’t have anxiety or worry”- it’s teaching us how to handle those feelings. What to do with them.
It’s like teaching your child to not burn their finger. It’s great advice, “Don’t touch the stove”. But it is incomplete if you don’t teach them how to handle their finger when they do burn it. We must not flatten the Bible into neat little boxes of “do and do not”. No, we are dynamic creatures. We have sophisticated feelings, emotions, burdens. Life is complex and interwoven. Thank God He gave us a Bible with a robust understanding of our lives.
What is this new way of dealing with our anxiety? For that, we turn from Paul, to Jesus.
A tender God for anxious humans
Jesus, the son of God, would have seen his friends and disciples worrying. He would have heard their anxious tones and seen their worried faces. Have you ever thought about that? How do you think the moms whose baby was sick looked and sounded like as they desperately tugged at Jesus’ robe, begging Him to heal their son? Or the men who, risking everything, lowered their paralyzed friend down to Jesus through a roof? God has seen the anxious hearts of His people.
When we turn to what Jesus is going to tell people regarding anxiety, let’s be careful not to read into scripture tones it does not have. Consider Jesus teaching on anxiety in Matthew 6, do you think those faces, those emotions of his people feeling anxious filled his mind, giving him a tenderness in his teaching?
Consider Jesus disposition as, walking down the road, he says gently to those who can hear: “Do not be anxious… (as an encouragement, not a judgment!) Look at the ravens, they neither sow nor reap. And your heavenly father takes care of them, doesn’t he? Won’t He also take care of you? For you are far more valuable than the birds of the air.”
This is less a promise that everything in our lives will go as we wish, and more a promise of God’s care in the midst of challenges that God will deal gently with our anxious hearts. All of the people in the Gospels who received a miracle from Jesus still died. Still went hungry. Still had sleepless nights and headaches. We still live in a broken world.
Our hope is in God’s sovereign control and tender care. He has seen our anxiety up close and personally. He sees your’s too. If He can keep nature on her course, providing for her, surely He can take care of us. In God, we have a tender Father to take our anxieties and give us hope that He has us in His capable hands.
Take Your anxiety to God
Perhaps it is this lesson from Jesus that caused Peter to write “Cast all your anxieties on him, because HE cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
There is a new way to deal with the anxiety of the age. It is not by “ridding” ourselves of worry so that we can “fill” ourselves with peace. As if our hearts are cups full of worry and by pouring the peace of God into them, it overflows all of the worry so that we can live in transcendence. No, life doesn’t work that way. It isn’t that clean.
Practically, how do we deal with worry?
Tinctures are little vials of needed ointment or medicine, readily available. They are usually small so that you can store them with you as you travel. Do you have Biblical tinctures, in the mind and in the heart? Ready to draw from as you walk through your day? You should. This could be memorized passages or notes of a verse in your wallet, or a screenshot of a verse you look at on your phone. (Some listed at the end of the article for your convenience)
We cannot avoid stress, anxiety, and worry in our complex lives. But we can, with the help of God, deal with them faithfully. We are to, with the tinctures of the scriptures in 1st Peter 5:7, Matthew 6, and Philippians 4:6, pour these Gospel truths into our hearts. In so doing, we learn that God is tender. God is in control. God’s hand is big and mighty and over all the earth. And He will take care of us even if the circumstances we find ourselves in stay dark.
We have a hope in God’s attributes that are not contingent upon our circumstances changing, but it is a hope that sustains us in the midst of them, especially when they stay dark.
As these biblical truths mix with the worry of our hearts, it will create a combination of faithful fret. And when it does, you go to God. You take whatever combination you have to Him. Maybe it’s very small worry. Or maybe the worry is so thick the biblical truths can’t mix. Regardless, you take it to God. For He cares for you.
Do not neglect your time with God in the age of worry. It is the only thing that will keep you afloat.
Are you anxious? Weary? Wound up? Go to Him. He cares. He wants to shoulder your burden. He has not left us alone. Our God in heaven longs to take care of His anxious sons and daughters, for HE cares for us. And He gives us the promise that He is in control and able even in the darkness. And one day, all things that cause worry will be eliminated. But until then, we will worry. And He promises to be with us.
Resting in the tender arms of God with you,
Josh. (See below for scriptures to help)
Consider writing these on a piece of paper, or taking a screenshot on your phone for future reference.
“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)
25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?…Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6)
Cast all your anxieties on him, because HE cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
