“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Overview
As Christians, we are instructed not to worry. And yet, we do. It can be hard to find peace in a world filled with so many things to worry about, especially when those things are constantly bombarding our senses.
As humans, our brains are primed to pay attention to our environment. Our minds are subconsciously yet constantly scanning for danger to help keep us alive and identify opportunities to make our lives more pleasurable. It’s why we’re more likely to keep an eye on the oven than our Bible. The sights, sounds, and smells of this physical world just feel more real than the spiritual.
One possible way to counter this is to focus more vividly on the spiritual. By shifting our attention toward spiritually desirable objects of thought, we shift attention away from the physical worries of this world. It’s likely that praying, reading the Bible, and attending church can bolster our spiritual focus. However, many of us struggle to commit these practices to habit. Perceived time commitments or uncertainty about where to begin often thwart our efforts.
But perhaps just thinking about Christ, himself, can help shift our focus away from the worries of this physical world to our more enduring spiritual one. Afterall, what’s more comforting than recalling how our savior took away the sins of the world, including ours, and will someday return to welcome us into his arms?
However, such a strategy may only work for those to whom their Christian faith is important. For those who don’t, guilt may take the place of peace.
As humans, our brains are primed to pay attention to our environment. Our minds are subconsciously yet constantly scanning for danger to help keep us alive and identify opportunities to make our lives more pleasurable. It’s why we’re more likely to keep an eye on the oven than our Bible. The sights, sounds, and smells of this physical world just feel more real than the spiritual.
One possible way to counter this is to focus more vividly on the spiritual. By shifting our attention toward spiritually desirable objects of thought, we shift attention away from the physical worries of this world. It’s likely that praying, reading the Bible, and attending church can bolster our spiritual focus. However, many of us struggle to commit these practices to habit. Perceived time commitments or uncertainty about where to begin often thwart our efforts.
But perhaps just thinking about Christ, himself, can help shift our focus away from the worries of this physical world to our more enduring spiritual one. Afterall, what’s more comforting than recalling how our savior took away the sins of the world, including ours, and will someday return to welcome us into his arms?
However, such a strategy may only work for those to whom their Christian faith is important. For those who don’t, guilt may take the place of peace.
The Experiment
We asked 500 Christians to spend a few moments writing about either Jesus Christ or a neutral historical person, William Shakespeare, then measured their self-reported anxiety via a series of survey questions. Participants were recruited from Prolific, an online research website where people take surveys and do other simple tasks for payment.
Each person was pre-screened based on their religion (i.e., Christian), then asked to complete a 1-minute writing activity about a randomly assigned historical figure, either William Shakespeare or Jesus Christ. Participants were instructed as follows: “Please take a few moments to write about [William Shakespeare / Jesus Christ]. Who is he and what does he mean to you?” After the writing activity, each participant answered a series of survey questions.
To measure anxiety, we used the six-item short-form of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), in which participants rate their response to the question “How do you feel right now?” according to each of the following 6 words: “Worried,” “Calm” (reverse-coded), “Tense,” “Content” (reverse-coded), “Relaxed” (reverse-coded), and “Upset.” Participants rated each word on a 1-7 scale, where 1 = “Not at all” and 7 = “Very much.”
To measure the importance of Christianity to each participant, we asked “How important is religion in your life?” Answer options included “Not at all important,” “Not too important,” “Somewhat important,” “Very important,” and “Extremely important.”
Each person was pre-screened based on their religion (i.e., Christian), then asked to complete a 1-minute writing activity about a randomly assigned historical figure, either William Shakespeare or Jesus Christ. Participants were instructed as follows: “Please take a few moments to write about [William Shakespeare / Jesus Christ]. Who is he and what does he mean to you?” After the writing activity, each participant answered a series of survey questions.
To measure anxiety, we used the six-item short-form of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), in which participants rate their response to the question “How do you feel right now?” according to each of the following 6 words: “Worried,” “Calm” (reverse-coded), “Tense,” “Content” (reverse-coded), “Relaxed” (reverse-coded), and “Upset.” Participants rated each word on a 1-7 scale, where 1 = “Not at all” and 7 = “Very much.”
To measure the importance of Christianity to each participant, we asked “How important is religion in your life?” Answer options included “Not at all important,” “Not too important,” “Somewhat important,” “Very important,” and “Extremely important.”
Results
Looking only at the difference in anxiety ratings between participants reflecting on Shakespeare (average = 2.41) compared to Jesus (average = 2.36), there appears to be no significant difference (p = 0.693). The graph below shows this null result. However, considering the importance of religion to each participant tells a different story.
When these results are interacted with the importance of religion in one’s life, as illustrated in the graph below, we see that there is, in fact, a very significant difference (p = 0.002). Whereas those who place a great deal of importance on their Christian faith experienced lower levels of anxiety when writing about Jesus, those who do not place much importance on their faith experienced higher levels of anxiety.
According to an OLS regression model, each 1-point increase in religion importance was associated with a -0.27-point decrease in anxiety from writing about Jesus.
As an example, someone who places no importance at all on their Christian faith (1 out of 5) would be 0.67 points (26%) more anxious when reflecting on Jesus. However, someone whose Christian faith is extremely important to them (5 out of 5) would be -0.42 points (18%) less anxious when reflecting on Jesus.
Conclusion
In our stress-weary world, there’s good reason to fix your eyes on Jesus. Our experiment suggests that spending just a few moments thinking about Jesus Christ, who he is and what he means to us, can help ease anxiety, alleviate worry, and bring some peace of mind.
However, these benefits seem to accrue only for those who genuinely value the Christian faith. For those to whom religion isn’t very important, thinking about Christ seems to have no effect at best, and may even slightly increase anxiety at worst. This is unfortunate. Such findings draw attention to the need for compassionate evangelism, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ as our loving and forgiving savior, our redeemer, and the Prince of Peace.
However, these benefits seem to accrue only for those who genuinely value the Christian faith. For those to whom religion isn’t very important, thinking about Christ seems to have no effect at best, and may even slightly increase anxiety at worst. This is unfortunate. Such findings draw attention to the need for compassionate evangelism, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ as our loving and forgiving savior, our redeemer, and the Prince of Peace.
References
Luhrmann, T. M. (2020). How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others. Princeton University Press.
Marteau, T. M., & Bekker, H. (1992). The development of a six-item short-form of the state scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 31(3), 301–306.
Marteau, T. M., & Bekker, H. (1992). The development of a six-item short-form of the state scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 31(3), 301–306.