Why A Christian Worldview Matters in a Season of Stress
The holidays arrive each year wrapped in lights, music, and cultural expectations of joy. For many, this season may also press on tender places of grief, financial strain, or relationships that feel fractured. A season advertised as “merry and bright” can become a mirror reflecting our deepest questions: Why do I hurt? Where is God in this? What does flourishing look like when life doesn’t look so great?
These are emotional questions and they are also worldview questions. The way we answer them shapes how we experience the holidays.
Mortimer Adler suggested that every worldview must answer at least five essential questions about human existence. These become especially visible when stress, grief, or holiday expectations collide.
1. What is the nature of reality?
Secular View
Reality is primarily material, psychological, and social.
Holiday stress is explained through:
disrupted routines
emotional triggers
comparison
financial strain
loneliness
In this perspective, suffering is something to manage, minimize, or cope with. Meaning is constructed, not discovered.
Biblical View
Reality is created, purposed, and spiritual. Human beings were formed for relationship with God, and suffering itself occurs within a larger story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
During the holidays, grief is not just an emotional experience, but an invitation to be near to God:
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted” (Ps. 34:18).
Implication:
Suffering is still painful, but it is never purposeless.
2. Who are we as human beings?
Secular View
Humans are primarily:
autonomous individuals
shaped by biology, environment, and social forces
Identity is self-created.
Worth is often tied to performance, relationships, or emotional stability.
During the holidays, this means:
if I’m not happy, something must be wrong with me
if I can’t meet expectations, I’m failing
if I feel lonely, I don’t belong
Biblical View
Humans are image-bearers, created with:
inherent dignity
eternal purpose
spiritual longings no earthly experience can satisfy
Implication:
Our deepest emotional longings point us toward Someone beyond the holiday season.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).
3. Why are we here? (Purpose)
Secular View
Purpose is self-defined.
Often reduced to:
happiness
personal fulfillment
connection
creating meaningful memories
This makes holiday pain feel like a disruption of my purpose. If the goal is happiness, then sadness feels like failure.
Biblical View
Purpose is relational and redemptive:
to know God
to reflect His character
to love others
to participate in His story
Even grief can become a place of spiritual depth and compassion.
Implication:
My purpose does not collapse under the weight of sorrow; it expands through it.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”( Micah 6:8).
4. What is wrong with the world?
Secular View
What’s wrong is primarily:
unmet expectations
emotional wounds
social pressure
chemical imbalance
societal dysfunction
Solutions are mainly psychological or behavioral.
Biblical View
What’s wrong is sin, brokenness, and the disordered world we inhabit.
Our suffering is not imagined, but it is also not the final word.
Christians recognize that emotional pain reveals the fractures of a fallen world—and awakens our longing for restoration.
Implication:
Grief is not a glitch; it is evidence that we were designed for something better.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
5. What is the solution?
Secular View
Healing comes from:
coping strategies
emotional regulation
therapy
mindfulness
healthy boundaries
All of these are valuable, but they focus on symptom management, not ultimate meaning.
Hope is grounded in self-improvement or improved circumstances.
Biblical View
Healing includes evidence-based practices but is anchored in God Himself:
Christ as the source of hope (John 6:35)
the Spirit as our comforter (John 14:16)
God’s presence in suffering (Psalm 23)
a future restoration (Rev. 21:4)
Implication:
We aren’t just managing emotions; we’re being formed into the likeness of Christ, even through suffering.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18).
Why A Christian Worldview Matters
When grief surfaces at Christmas or sadness replaces celebration, these five worldview questions determine how we interpret our emotions:
Is my suffering meaningless or meaningful?
Do my longings point inward or upward?
Is my identity fragile or anchored?
Is the solution self-effort or divine presence?
Is this season only about pressure or also about hope?
A secular worldview offers coping.
A biblical worldview offers coping + meaning + redemption.
References
Adler, M. J. (2000). How to think about the great ideas: From the great books of Western civilization. Open Court.
New International Bible. (2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1978).
