Anxiety and worry, guilt and remorse
There were two big questions raised after the sermon on Sunday night (Isaiah 6.1-7).
Firstly, I mentioned something about whether anxiety was a sin if we’re commanded in Philippians not to be anxious.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)
This was abbreviating a book review of Jerry Bridges’ Respectable Sins which was recently reviewed in the Briefing. The book review made me think it is definitely worth reading, to be reminded again of how easily our Christianity takes on aspects of our worldview that God is against. Other areas mentioned are impatience, selfishness, favouritism …
I’m sorry if what I said was insensitive to those thinking of friends and family with medically diagnosed anxiety issues.
What I was and am keen to challenge us on is the little things we may worry about that are out of our control.
John Bartik’s reflections on Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy are worth a read.
Secondly, I ended with the reminder that we needn’t feel guilt about sin if we’re forgiven.
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6-7)
I think there’s a difference between feeling guilty and feeling remorseful about sin. I understand remorse as something which also implies regret and repentance. ie a desire to not keep sinning.
I think feeling guilty about sin can lead to two problems.
- You feel more and more guilt in which case you don’t trust God’s grace to forgive.
- The guilt makes you want to try harder and be more godly so you don’t trust God’s grace to forgive.
The right response to recognising the sin in our lives is to repent, to say sorry to God and to ask him to forgive us. I think the danger is that all too often we want to say sorry and I won’t do it again, as though we can make ourselves more godly.
What do you think? Have I overstated my case?
Hey JK,
Is anxiety a sin? I suppose that’s difficult to say, but Jesus himself (in Matthew 6) makes the same point as does Paul (in Philippians 4:6). Or rather, they’re not making the same ‘point’, but giving the same command – ‘do not be anxious!’ I find it strange here that an emotion is commanded – we’re so used to actions being commanded, but not our feelings.
But in Matthew 6, Jesus has spent a fair bit of time hammering the fact that Jesus’ Father, who is our Father too, is in heaven – and from there he will give us all we need. He’s a lot better at fathering than us (Mt 7:11), which means his sons (us!) can trust his provision a whole lot more than our children can trust ours.
I’m still not sure whether we’d say anxiety is a sin. But on the basis of God’s fatherly nature, we’ve strong cause to exhort each other – do not be anxious!
GT
How easy is it to separate an action from a thought? In both the sermon on the mount and Philippians, there is a call to not be anxious about a particular thing. So, it’s more a particular thought than a general emotion. It’s not unusual for us to be commanded to think differently. eg Eph 2.11 Remember! (Someone pointed out to me that it’s the only command/imperative in Eph 1-3)