Worry is something I know I (and I’m sure most people) face frequently. Why Worry? Getting to the Heart of Your Anxiety by Robert D. Jones takes a look at worry with a biblical rationale and support. It truly helps you to dig deep to the root and work to address your issues.

Virtually every expression of worry begins with some legitimate concern that we allow to consume us. We fail to bring that concern into God's presence in order to see it from God's perspective. Worries are typically matters of concern that we fail to deal with in godly ways.

Do you worry? I think we all do because we care that if the bills will be paid, or the surgery will go well and our children will be safe. But how we do we do deal with with our worries in Godly ways. I thought this text brought hope while it also brought to the light the symptoms of worry. Serving two masters was one that I did not see coming. Seeing the sinful roots of my anxiety is actually freeing and with that freedom comes healing. I highly recommend.

A Special Thank you to P & R Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

This is a new booklet that is part of a biblical counseling booklet series called “Resources for Changing Lives” that is printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing. It addresses the topic of worrying, a topic that many people unfortunately know too well (myself included).
The booklet looks to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount to address the issue of worrying. The booklet first gives us hope concerning the problem of worrying then it looks more closely at what worry is and how we can overcome worrying.
One of the things the author said early in the booklet that stood out to me was his observation that if God’s Word addresses the topic of worrying that means God is well aware of this as a problem in our lives. But God does not just stop there for God also have answers for it. This flows from his observation that in Matthew 6:19-34 Jesus gave the command three different times to not worry. Moreover the fact that Jesus addressed His followers acknowledges that Christians can struggle with worrying too but the Lord’s Word gives us hope that we can learn not to worry. As a pastor who engages in biblical counseling I think it is important to foster hope for someone struggling with a problem and to have that hope for change based upon the truth of Scripture. So I appreciate the author’s biblically based words of encouragement early on in this work.
The author Robert Jones calls out worrying for what it is: sin. I was edified with the booklet’s discussion about why worrying is a sin. Worry has what the author calls “a revelatory function” in revealing the idolatry and unbelief in our hearts. Fortunately the author doesn’t just stop there at telling us worrying is sinful: Jones also points the readers to Christ as the source of God’s grace for our problem. It was also helpful to see Jones go over the marks of true repentance and real life examples towards the end of this booklet along with the reasons Jesus gave not to worry in Matthew 6. I recommend this resource.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by P&R Publishing and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

Using the Sermon on the Mount passages as a guide, a short pamphlet on why worry is bad with biblical advice on what the Christian can do to decrease their worrying.

This is unabashedly aimed at a Christian audience who embraces the Bible as truth. I doubt people who struggle with worrying but do not identify as Christians or view the Bible as God's word would get much from this. Dr. Jones comes at the problem from a pastoral counselor position and looking at it as purely a spiritual issue. Personally, as a Christian with a bit of science knowledge (I'm a former bio teacher), I think there are many people for which serious anxiety is a physical/brain chemical issue as well as a spiritual issue and think that addressing both is necessary to get those people in a healthier mental spot. For that reason, I'd recommend reading this along with the chapter on anxiety in the book Spark by Dr. John J. Ratey. But for any Christian who has a tendency to worry, this booklet does provide a very good starting point in getting your mind in a better spot by presenting things to seriously think about. What is the root of our worries? How do you reduce your worrying? Jones style is blatant and blunt. He does not sugar coat anything and may come off at first as a bit abrasive. But many people need a straight talker to snap them out of the bad spot they're in and some just prefer someone to give it to them straight. If the beginning rubs you as a bit bold and harsh, hang in there and get through to the finish. It is only 32 pages, and it ends in a way you can tell Dr. Jones is coming from a place of love and care with his bluntness. And he wraps up with some poignant questions to think about and helpful Scriptures to meditate on. I do have a tendency to worry and I found those end questions helpful. I plan to read the list of Scriptures he gives in the coming days. I'll be recommending this to the counselling office at our Christian high school.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free, digital ARC copy of this pamphlet in exchange for an honest review. I didn't realize that this was a short pamphlet. However, there is a lot of wisdom packed into the few pages. The author really gets to the root of the worry problem in a Christian's life. He uses the scripture from Matthew 6 to really analyze why Christians worry and what Jesus says will give us victory.

I would definitely recommend this book to Christian friends who struggle with anxiety an worry.