Is Anxiety a Sin?

As I’m sitting on the couch of my therapist’s office, a place that usually brings comfort and calm, I catch a glimpse of my Bible and wonder, is anxiety a sin? I make a mental note of my question as I continue 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 an answer to this complex question swirling in my brain. I’ve struggled with anxiety for as 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 both my Bible and my notes from therapy and sit to educate and inform myself on this topic. I don’t want to know what the world says about the anxiety that I’m sometimes immobilized by and constantly working to conquer. I want to know what the Lord says about 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 choice.

The Bible discusses sin as something people choose, either to do or not to do— both come from choice. Anxiety is a human struggle, not a revolt against God. I do not wake up and choose to be filled with anxiety, yet I often am. Identifying the cause of my anxiety has helped manage it, but it has not eradicated it. While I do not choose anxiety, I do choose God each and every day.

“But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” –