THE LIFE YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED (John Ortberg) - Chapters 11-13

The following devotions are based on the book THE LIFE YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED (Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People) by John Ortberg  (Zondervan, 2002)  All text in red italics is a direct quotation from the book.

CHAPTER 11: AN UNDIVIDED LIFE –

The Practice of Reflection on Scripture

Purity of heart is to will one thing. (Søren Kierkegaard)

Purity can be considered a single-mindedness of goal – to live as God intended us to live, without sin, and purely human.

Our goal should be to achieve simplicity – to have a life that is integrated, focused on one thing.  Make a commitment to the ‘good’, or as Jesus put it, “Seek first the Kingdom of God.”

MULTIPLICITY

• When we live a life of multiplicity, we both desire intimacy with God and flee from it. (176)
• Duplicity adds a note of falseness.  We say something that sounds humble, but secretly know that we are trying to impress people with our apparent humility.  (176)
• Human beings have a remarkable capacity for self-deception. (176)

SIMPLICITY OF HEART

We possess singleness when we are not pulled in opposite directions and when we act without wanting something further for ourselves.  Our inner drives do not conflict; they are aimed in one direction.  The motives we appear to have are the ones we really have.  Our inner focus is unified and our public posture corresponds with it.  We are not, in short, divided. (Clifford Williams, p177)

Sunday, 1.10.16  Reflections

          It is a new year and the flurry of Advent and Christmas is past.  I set Ortberg's book aside for two months and I vow to finish it now - the final three chapters!  

          The first part of this chapter talks about having a focused life - obviously the focus should be on God and living a 'godly life'.  When we are pulled in many directions, we lose our focus.  It happens to ALL of us, every day.  Our lips may heed allegiance, but our actions speak differently.  When we truly have that 'purity of thought', we will act in a loving, Christ-like manner without even thinking about it.  The basis for this focus in this section is Scripture.  

 THE BIBLE AND TRANSFORMATION

Often we are so burdened and overwhelmed with other thoughts, images, and concerns that it may take a long time before God’s Word has swept all else aside and come through….  This is the very reason why we begin our meditation with the prayer that God may send His Holy Spirit to us through His Word and reveal His Word to us and enlighten us.  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p180)

• One moment I want to hear from God; the next I want to use what I have heard to impress people with how spiritual I am.
• The purpose of knowing Scripture is not to help us get a 100 score on the heavenly entrance exam.  It is to help us become equipped for good works.  p181
• The Bible is to help us learn how to live in the kingdom of God here and now.  It teachers us how to morph…..it is for us to become transformed into the kind of people from whom goodness flows like an unceasing stream of water.  p181-182
• Meditating on Scripture is not quite the same thing as Bible study.  The purpose of meditation is to have our minds ‘washed by the Word’. p182

1.11.16 Monday Reflection
          I appreciate these words in regard to the difference between Bible meditation and Bible study.  When we meditate, we aren't looking for information or answers.  We are seeking the Spirit, we are listening more than we are speaking.  I am trying a new prayer format this year and have decided to add a daily verse - a single simple phrase or sentence - to that.  I will read the verse in several different translations.  I will read aloud.  I will read slowly.  I will pause and wait....for a new interpretation.  For a word that suddenly seems to be in bold text. I will try to 'wash' with the words, to clean a part of my soul with the Holy Spirit.  I will wash and wait for God.  Many of these are suggestions from below. 
           I found an online source of single daily Scriptures.  We'll see how it goes.  
Galatians 5:6  ..."what matters....is faith expressed as love."  (or energized by love).  Key word?  LOVE.  In our visioning session yesterday, this came out as one of the key goals of the church - to demonstrate LOVE.  What matters most is not the building or programs, but simply to act as agents of God's love.  Sometimes the former are the means to the latter, but LOVE is the key.  Just two commandments from Jesus: Love God, love others.  It's that simple.  Why do we make it so hard? 

 SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATING ON SCRIPTURE.....

1.     Ask God to meet you in Scripture.  The message of the Bible is not just that help is coming – it has arrived.

2.    Read the Bible in a repentant Spirit. ….with a readiness to surrender all.  Reading for transformation is different from reading for information or to prove a point.

3.    Meditate on a fairly brief passage or narrative.  Go slowly.  The goal is not for us to get through the Scriptures.  The goal is to get the Scriptures through us. p186   

4.    Take one thought or verse with you through the day.   

5.    Allow this thought to become part of your memory.  (What matters is not how many words we memorize, but what happens to our minds as we immerse them in Scripture. p191)

CHAPTER 12:  LIFE WITH A WELL-ORDERED HEART

Developing Your Own ‘Rule of Life’

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23

• Our modern quest seems to be for a ‘balanced life’.  But this can contribute to a tendency to compartmentalize our faith, to make it easier, more pleasant or manageable.  It lacks the notion that life is to be given to something bigger than myself.  (p194-195)
• Our quest should be for a well-ordered heart.  Augustine suggested a well-ordered heart means to LOVE the right thing, to the right degree, in the right way, with the right kind of love.  (p196)
• Spiritual transformation cannot be orchestrated or controlled, but neither is it a random venture…we need a plan. (p.200)
• A suggested verse for such a ‘plan of life’ could be Colossians 3:17….whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 
• In a sense, each of us chooses a ‘spiritual strategy’ whether or not we are intentional about it.  We choose it by default. (p204)

Thoughts and ponderings on this chapter....
   

     Ortberg begins by comparing the 'quest' of the medieval knights to our modern quest for a 'balanced life' and how, because we determine how that balance looks, that we often miss the boat in including God in all.  Self imposed balance often becomes a self-centered life.  
          St. Augustine's suggestions for a well ordered heart are good....love in the right way, at the right time, in the right place, in the right way.  But how does that look?  How can we apply it?  The photo below summarizes Ortberg's suggestion for what this might look like.  He goes on to list examples for each section of life.  To do something 'in the name of' in Bible times meant to do it in the character of, as or another person, would do it.  In other words, we are back to 'What would Jesus do?"  Would he start the day off with a prayer to his Father God saying 'thanks for another day of opportunity!  May I reflect your love to all this day'?  Would Jesus greet customers or others with indifference, or look them in the eye and acknowledge their presence and worth?  Would Jesus fill his mind with hateful TV or reading material, or listen to music that puts down people?  It is a HUGE endeavor to live as Jesus, but then again, with God, all things are possible!  

CHAPTER 13:  A LIFE OF ENDURANCE

The Experience of Suffering

It is said of God that no one can behold his face and live.  I always thought this meant that no one could see his splendor and live.  A friend said perhaps it means that no one could see his sorrow and live.  Or perhaps his sorrow is his splendor.  Nicholas Wolterstorff

Ortberg’s key statements:

• The start of any life or endeavor is easy.  To finish is hard.  To finish well is called endurance or perseverance. Endurance is a gift we can offer.  (209-210)
• Any truly meaningful human accomplishment will require perseverance…spiritual transformation won’t happen without it. (210) 
• Suffering always changes us, but it does not necessarily change us for the better…if we are going to be transformed, we must look at how suffering benefits us, or at least how to respond to it. (211) 
• Sometimes faith is walking in the darkness and simply refusing to quit. (212)
• A test is a difficult experience through which a person’s true values, commitments, and beliefs are revealed.  Testing is an act of love. (213)
• Going in faith does not necessarily mean going with serenity or without doubts.  Faith can be difficult.  Having faith doesn’t mean never having doubts or questions.  It does mean remaining obedient. (215-6)
  
  
• Suffering alone does not produce endurance, only suffering that is endured somehow in faith. (216) 
• We do not keep the faith from the sheer strength of will.  The reason we can trust God is that he understands what it is to walk in darkness. (221)

            Ortberg uses the story of Abraham as the ultimate example of a doubting, questioning man who obeyed God, even to the point of sacrificing his son. He walked in darkness, was tested, suffered, yet still obeyed.  And ultimately, he triumphed.   And so can we if we persevere.