"Think Again"

Book info

About the book:  Evaluating yourself-being mindful of who you are and what you are doing-is necessary and can lead to positive change. But what about the dark side of introspection? Do you ever feel weighed down and exhausted by your own self-analysis? Perhaps you made a mistake, said a careless word, or even messed up big time. Your self-examination spirals into a full-blown cross-examination. You keep revisiting what happened. Your mind circles around the event, fruitlessly trying to somehow make the outcome different so you don't feel the embarrassment, shame, and regret. The modern self-esteem movement has left us empty and self-focused. We exhaust our healthy introspection and pervert it into constant self-evaluation, wrong views of ourselves, self-accusation, and false guilt. Introspection was never meant to bear such weight. Think Again offers real relief from the burden of introspection that so many of us carry each day. Pastor Jared Mellinger, who tends to overdose on self-analysis himself, shows us how the hope of the gospel can rescue us from the bad fruit of unsound introspection. Mellinger's short, story-filled chapters help readers identify and turn away from unhealthy introspection. There is an outward-focused God who delights to rescue an inward-focused people and lead them into a better way to live. When we truly understand it, we'll see that the gospel actually sets us free from thinking about ourselves too much. We can seek after and pray for the peace and joy-the sanity-that comes from thinking about ourselves less often.  Think Again includes practical instructions for self-examination, fighting false guilt, breaking free from hyper-introspection, and more. Ultimately, Think Again demonstrates that the solution to thinking too much about ourselves is to look to Christ, and it gives readers the tools to begin to turn from the mirror. Learn more, purchase a copy, and read a sample here. About the author: Jared Mellinger joined the Covenant Fellowship Church pastoral team in 2006, upon graduating from Pastors College of Sovereign Grace Churches. He became senior pastor in 2008. Jared graduated from Kutztown University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education. He enjoys reading, rollerblading, poetry, drinking coffee, building fires, and listening to Josh Garrels. Jared is the author of Think Again: Relief from the Burden of Introspection. He resides in Glen Mills, PA with his wife Meghan and their six children.   My Review: "Think Again: relief from the burden of introspection" is a great read.  We are constantly analyzing ourselves, how we are as a mother, a wife, a friend, how we look, how we are perceived by others.  Jared shares personal stories as well as Biblical accounts throughout this book to help the reader work through exploring how her views of herself and self-analysis are impacting her life.  I really enjoyed the section that Jared shared about "selfies" and how this and social media play such a huge role in today's society. While some view selfies as a reflection of narcissism, some see them as reflecting self-esteem and a way of exploring how one feel's about herself.  Being constantly hard on ourselves can drag us down and leave us never happy with ourselves.  Jared helps each of us work through our thoughts and how we think about ourselves.  Each chapter end with questions to think about and reflect upon to help apply and really make changes in our thinking and how we live.  To read other reviews included on this blog tour, go here! *Thanks to the Litfuse Publicity Group for including me on this blog tour.*