Anxious : Choosing Faith In A World Of Worry

In any 12-month period, 18 percent of adults in the U.S. experience an anxiety disorder that significantly impairs their ability to function in everyday life. We-you and I and the culture we live in-are frantic with worry. Worry is part of our culture, an expectation of responsible people. And Christians are no different. But we are called to live and think differently from the worried world around us. The fact is, worry is sin, but we don’t seem to take it seriously. It is a spiritual problem, which ultimately cannot be overcome with sheer willpower-its solution is rooted entirely in who God is. How can we live life abundantly, with joy, as God has called us to do, when we’re consumed by anxiety? We are commanded not to worry, not only in the well-known words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 6, but also throughout the Old Testament and the epistles to the church. The Bible makes it clear that the future belongs only to God, who rules and is not subject to the limitations of time. To live with joy and contentment, trusting God with the present and the future, is a countercultural feat that can be accomplished only through him. Challenging the idolatrous underpinnings of worry, former Christianity Today executive Amy Simpson encourages us to root our faith in who God is, not in our own will power. We don’t often give much thought to why worry offends God, but indulging anxiety binds us to mere possibilities and blinds us to the truth. Correctly understanding the theology of worry is critical to true transformation. This is a book not just for women who worry, or people diagnosed with an anxiety disorder; this is a call to the church to turn its eyes from the things of earth and fix its eyes on the author and completer of our faith.