Ordering Your Private World

All work no play may have made Jack a dull boy, but all work no God has left Jack with a lost soul, but he's moving on full steam, he's chasing the American dream, and he's gonna give his family finer things"(American Dream, Casting Crowns).

We live in a society today that is all about getting ahead of the rest of the world, no matter what one must sacrifice whiter it be ones morals, belief systems, or even ones family, it as all become about "me" and "my needs". In the book "Ordering Your Private World", author Gordon MacDonald addresses the physical busyness f people today and how it is affecting them in other aspects of their lives. In this paper I plan on addressing how MacDonald gives sound advice to a new generation that is needed, for them to live life from the inside. This paper will contain a brief report on the book, and also my personal opinion on the entire thing.

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

The sinkinghole isn't just some act of Mother Nature, but it is also a disorder within the church and the lives of many Christians. We must come to see ourselves as living in two very different worlds: both outer and inner. Our outer world consists of that which we can taste, see and touch, but as for our inner world it is more spiritual. " Here is a center in which choices and values can be determined, where solitude and reflection might be pursed. It is a place for conducting worship and confession, a spot where the moral and spiritual pollution of the times need not penetrate" (pg 12). Unfortunately for many their private world goes undiscovered and therefore it will never reach it's full potential

" If my private world is in order, it will be because I made a daily choice to mentor its state or orderliness" (pg 18).

In today's society all to often we sit idly by as we watch other human beings disintegrate before our very eyes because there were no resources of interior support in the midst of pressure (pg 20). The writer of Proverbs 4:23, knew this to be true. They knew that the heart is to be protected from influences outside itself that may jeopardize its integrity (pg 23). The health of the "heart" and its productivity cannot be assumed; it must always be protected and maintained. Ultimately there must be a quiet place where all is in order, a place from which comes the energy that overcomes turbulence and is not intimidated by it" (pg 25).

"If my private world is in order, it will be because I have courageously confronted the messiness of my ways of living and chosen to bring them under rigorous discipline" (Sector One pg 27).

"Drivenness is a quality seen in people motivated to make something of themselves for less-than-best reasons" (pg 29). There are many people in the world today whose very drive is costing them terribly. But is it possible to spot such people? According to Macdonald there are many symptoms visible in an individual that may suggest that they are driven. These are: A driven person is most often gratified only by accomplishment; they are the type of people who only see life in terms of results (33). Secondly a driven person is preoccupied with the symbols of accomplishment; they are people who are aware of the symbols of status (34). Thirdly a driven person is an individual who tends to have a limited regard for integrity; these are people who have very little time