In the Preface to The Life You’ve Always Wanted, author John Ortberg expressed his hope that readers would take the book as “an invitation to live Christ’s Way, because it is the only invitation that really matters”. This invitation is supported by a wonderful quote from Soren Kierkegaard (The Prayers of Kierkegaard) that begins Chapter 1: “Now, with God’s help, I shall become myself.”
Pastor Ortberg’s invitation comes full-circle in Chapter 12, entitled “Life with a Well-ordered Heart”. He discusses the quest for the Holy Grail in our times- a balanced life, while noting that the paradigm of balance “lacks the notion that my life is to be given to something bigger than myself”.
As the book’s title implies, the pursuit our soul truly longs for is a well-ordered heart. The balance paradigm assumes that our problem is external. In other words, it attempts to solve our problem from the outside in. Our truly significant disorder, however, is internal, and must be addressed from the inside out.
In The City of God, Augustine suggested that when we have a well-ordered heart, we love:
“-the right thing
-to the right degree
-in the right way
-with the right kind of love.”
The key to our healing and ministry refocusing is transforming our fallen hearts into well-ordered hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit- and to do so intentionally.
