MacDonald, Gordon. Ordering Your Private World.
Revised. Nashville, TN: Thomas
Nelson, 2003.
Gordon MacDonald has served as a pastor in Massachusetts and
as an interim president and now chancellor at Denver Seminary, among other
roles he’s had over the years. He and his wife Gail have co-authored some books
together, and Gordon has written over a dozen books on his own. He and Gail have
two grown children and several grandchildren.
His book Ordering Your Private World is one
of MacDonald’s forays into spiritual formation. In it he talks about the
intentionality of pursuing growth, not just spiritually, but in all aspects of
life. From investing in God’s Word to life-long learning, from taking Sabbath-rests
to living with the sense of being called, MacDonald explores what it means to
be more than just a skin-deep believer.
The book was born out of MacDonald’s own spiritual
journey, and as such it is filled with personal stories. Not only does this
make the book quite enjoyable to read, it also gives the reader ample
opportunity to relate and resonate with MacDonald’s life experiences and
subsequently to take him up on his stress-tested wisdom.
Perhaps the greatest takeaway from the book for me was
the clear presentation of two pictures of life—one in which life flows from the
inside out, and a bifurcated life in which things may appear all right on the
surface, but the chaos hiding within will eventually lead to burnout, despair,
and destruction. Though he mentions neither, I couldn’t help but think about
Jesus’ description of the Pharisees as being externally clean cups and whitewashed
tombs (Matthew 23:25-28), and his Parable of the Two Builders (Matthew 7:24-27).
It is a sobering thought to think that there might be many people who believe
in Jesus and cross all the external t’s and dot all the external I’s, but who are
a complete mess on the inside. Sometimes that’s me.
Ordering Your Private World has sold over a
million copies and has gone through a few reprints since it first came out in
1984. That’s a testimony of its timeless lasting power. If you’re just now
entering into a pursuit of deepening your inner life, or, like me, need to be
reminded of what that looks like and be encouraged in your walk, I highly
recommend this book to you.
Grace and peace.
You can find this book at Amazon:
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