While away on Spring Break this week with my family I received a text from a good friend telling me that the latest data from The Barna Group suggests that 60% of Americans struggle with anxiety. In their latest research, New Research Explores the Changing Shape of Temptation, they state the following:
While most people may or may not consider procrastination and anxiety to be especially sinful, they are the temptations Americans are most likely to admit struggling with. Three out of five (60%) Americans say they are tempted to worry or be anxious and the same number say procrastination or putting things off is a serious temptation for them.
Though there are theological camps that hold to the view that any anxiety is a sin, I do not hold that view. I’m not going to get into the debate here since I wrote an entire book on the topic, and I view anxiety as a an opportunity for growth in our lives…as one of the tools God uses to help us transform our lives and not stay stuck. Certainly, anxiety can/could lead one into temptation and sinful behavior, but I do not hold the view that being anxious and struggling with anxiety is sinful in and of itself, or diminishes our faith in God one bit.
So instead of getting into arguments here on this issue, what I would like to do over the next month is to write about several ways that you can learn and grow from your anxiety. That is something that I think could be helpful in your life. It certainly changed my life.
