By: Thomas Quackenbush, B.A. in Christian Apologetics | March 16, 2025
Curse or Calling?
These days, anxiety is seen as both a mental and physical reaction to stress, uncertainty, or perceived threats. It’s that overwhelming sense of worry, fear, or nervousness—even when there’s no clear danger. Many people treat anxiety like a sickness, something foreign that needs to be fixed before they can truly live. If it gets bad enough, they might see a doctor, get diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and be prescribed medication to dull the symptoms.
But what if anxiety isn’t just something to get rid of? What if it’s actually a necessary part of growth, a constructive force shaping you into who you’re meant to be? What if your angst isn’t a curse but a call—pointing you toward a virtuous, Christlike life?
Rethinking Anxiety
First, we need to rethink anxiety—not as something purely negative, but as something that can serve a purpose. Then, we can explore how it plays a role in personal growth. Finally, by understanding virtue, we can use it as a spiritual guide to become the person God has called us to be.
The 19th-century Christian philosopher Søren Kierkegaard had a striking view of anxiety. He saw it as more than just worry or fear—it was tied to freedom, choice, and spiritual growth. He famously called anxiety “the dizziness of freedom.”
Think about it: it can feel overwhelming when we truly grasp that our choices shape who we become. It’s like what the Preacher in Ecclesiastes says—God “has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” We sense that our lives have meaning, that our choices echo beyond the present moment, yet we can’t fully see the whole picture.
Anxiety creeps in from the depths of our unconscious, standing beside us as we face these weighty decisions. It isn’t just fear—it’s the weight of responsibility, the realization that the future self we are shaping depends on what we choose today.
Overcoming Despair
After Kierkegaard lays the groundwork for understanding anxiety as a psychological reality, he moves into deeper theological territory, exploring original sin and dogmatic assumptions as key challenges in the formation of the self. We were created good, but sin fractured that goodness, separating us from God. Because of this, our true self can only emerge through overcoming despair—by placing our faith in God through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Think of an artist painting within a frame. The boundaries don’t restrict creativity; they give it shape and direction. In the same way, anxiety—born from the infinite possibilities before us—can only be resolved by living rightly before God. The way out of existential vertigo is not escaping choice, but choosing obedience.
Fear and Trembling
To live this way is to walk with fear and trembling, fully aware that we stand before an all-powerful, all-knowing God who has already marked a path for us. The overwhelming weight of choice is lifted not by eliminating it, but by trusting that God’s will is the only path worth following, if we have the courage to listen to His Spirit’s quiet, persistent call.
If the Christian life still feels unclear, like something that always slips through your grasp, following God’s commandments might seem more like sticking to the letter of the law, rather than living out its spirit. You might be missing what Jesus said: “Come to me, all who are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy.”
The virtuous life isn’t about forced obedience—it’s about living forward with God’s love as your guiding principle. It’s not about being a slave to the rules, but about finding the joyful freedom to choose what’s good, all while living in a spirit of love.
Cultivating Virtue
This is how the Apostle Peter explains living the Christian life, “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:5-9 [ESV]).
We are called to make every effort to add virtue to our faith. Virtue isn’t superficial; it’s the habitual disposition we develop through the countless choices we make throughout our lives. These choices shape who we are and cultivate the spiritual soil for a fruitful and abundant life. The virtues provide the framework to live well, guiding our decisions and actions. Christianity isn’t about admiring Jesus from a distance and saying, “Wow, Jesus was a great teacher!” It’s about taking up our crosses and actively following Him. Christianity is not a spectator sport.
Created in God’s Image
Every person is created in God’s image and carries intrinsic value—value that can’t be earned or taken away. This is the foundation of Christian ethics and gives our lives deep, unshakable meaning. But we also have the freedom to choose who we become. We can choose to obey God or follow our fleeting desires. 20th-century existentialists might encourage us to follow our hearts and create ourselves through whatever choices we make, saying that our existence defines our essence. But the chaos unfolding in the 21st century is starting to show the dire consequences of that mindset.
Our existence shows that we are, but our essence explains what we are. Both aspects are part of God’s design for us. Our essence (what we are) shapes our existence (how we live). God defines our essence, and our anxiety—rather than being something to fear—awakens us from a perpetual state of immaturity and directs us toward becoming who God wants us to be.
For this reason, God has placed objective moral principles in our conscience, guiding us to live justly in society. The actions Peter speaks about—adding virtue to our faith—are the steps that help us make the right choices and become more virtuous and sanctified over the course of our lives.
Virtue Grows
Remember, Peter tells us to supplement our virtue with knowledge, or prudence—using the wisdom God gives us to make decisions that honor Him. With knowledge, we add self-control—the ability to resist overindulgence in sensual pleasure or to avoid extreme asceticism. With self-control comes steadfastness—the courage to keep going, to make the right choices even when adversity tries to pull us in different directions. And finally, we add godliness and brotherly affection to steadfastness. This means giving justice to both God and others: giving God our sacrificial worship and honoring people with the dignity and respect they deserve.
There’s a lot more to explore about how anxiety can be a positive force and how understanding virtues as a spiritual compass can guide our decisions—decisions that shape our future. But for now, this brief introduction will have to suffice. Ultimately, God didn’t call us to stay where we are but to grow in virtue and actively engage in the Body of Christ. We are meant to grow by following Jesus, not just admiring His beauty from a distance.
Existential Love
Everything that is temporary will eventually fade. Peter starts by telling us to add knowledge to our faith because knowledge is part of the intellect—it doesn’t decay or get eaten by moths. But we aren’t just to love God with our minds; we are to love Him existentially, with our bodies and souls too. The choices we make today will shape who we become tomorrow. It’s better to face your anxiety and become the person you’re called to be than to numb it with pills and remain sunk in despair.
About the Author
Thomas Quackenbush and his wife, Christine, are originally from New Jersey and New York but moved down to the outskirts of Fayetteville, North Carolina in 2016 so that Thomas could attend Bible college and so that his wife could pursue her new teaching career. From 2016–2020, Thomas attended Carolina College of Biblical Studies (https://ccbs.edu) in Fayetteville, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Apologetics.
Thomas is a proud Veteran of the United States Air Force and currently serves as an elder at his church. Quackenbush worked with Norman Geisler International Ministries and met Dr. Thomas McCuddy. Both Quackenbush and Dr. McCuddy began a ministry known as Families of Virtue, which sprang out of both men’s desire to serve and edify everyone in church, from the layperson in the pew to the man behind the pulpit. Quackenbush serves as the Vice President and Director of Education at Families of Virtue (https://familiesofvirtue.com).
As the Director of Education, Thomas writes and builds courses for Familes of Virtue in their Classical Virtue Academy, ranging from 4-week Bible studies to apologetics materials for grade school students in South Africa.
Thomas’s ambition is to become more like Christ and to love his neighbor as himself. He is excited to serve the Lord in any capacity that He sees fit.
