I have read many books in my three plus decades of life. My favorite is still The Monster at the End of This Book. It’s pretty hard to top that classic. I’m certain that in some way every book I’ve read has shaped me. But not all of them have been incredibly memorable. I can still remember the main gist of most of the books I’ve read, but that isn’t true of chapters. Yet there are some chapters which have absolutely shaped and changed me. To this end, I agree with John Piper’s statement: “Books don’t change people, paragraphs do — sometimes sentences.”
What I’m going to do over the next few weeks, likely on Friday, is share with you ten chapters which have shaped me. Obviously what has shaped me more than anything are the words of Scripture. But what I intend to do here are share ten chapters which are from borrowed lights. It’s my hope that this will inspire you to pick up these books and at least read these life-shaping chapters.
Chapter 4 of The Life You’ve Always Wanted
When I was a new believer, John Ortberg quickly became one of my favorite authors. His writing style captivated me. One book in particular which shaped me early on was his work on the spiritual disciplines. Ortberg focuses on some spiritual disciplines than one wouldn’t normally think of including in such a book. One of these disciplines is the practice of celebration, which is the fourth chapter of Ortberg’s book.
I’ll admit that there are likely a few things in the book, and even in this chapter that I might not fully subscribe to today. Nothing major, really. But I’d likely say things a bit differently and emphasize or deemphasize certain points. But this book and especially chapter four were foundational to my Christian growth. I believe there were seeds planted here which would later be watered by those like Sam Storms and John Piper—and my whole view of God and the Christian life would be altered.
Ortberg’s chapter begins with a story about his daughter Mallory. Mallory is filled with joy and excitement (much like my Hannah). She always did a dance that his family dubbed “the dee dah day dance”. Ortberg confesses that on one particular occasion he was annoyed by his daughter’s joyous dancing. He was in a hurry and didn’t have the patience for a Dee Dah Day dance. But when his daughter asked him, “why” it stopped him in his tracks. From this story Ortberg goes on to explain how God is actually the happiest being in the universe. His daughter was much like God in that moment. “God is the happiest being in the universe” (67), stated Ortberg.
This profoundly shaped the way I viewed God—and the way I thought God viewed me. For years I pictured God as a somewhat angry father who was just waiting for opportunities to be displeased with me. I never pictured him as being happy or filled with joy. “There is a being in this universe who wants you to live in sorrow, but it is not God” (68). God isn’t miserable, Satan is.
Ortberg goes on to suggest a few things for learning to practice celebration. Some of these are very helpful—like finding a joy mentor. I think today I’d likely add something a bit about how things like Bible reading and meditation can actually increase our joy in God. But at the time this was a paradigm shift for me. I began pursuing joy in a way that I hadn’t before. I started to realize that joy was actually a duty. I don’t think, I yet grasped what it meant to have joy in God (I’m still not sure I do), but this set me on a journey and laid a foundation which has been a key aspect of my walk with Christ.
Ortberg is a great author and his books are enjoyable. This book has some great insights that I’d still recommend even today. It might not be the first book I recommend on spiritual disciplines (Don Whitney’s would be). But I’d still encourage believers to give this a read, especially that fourth chapter.
You can pick up the book here. (Also, my copy of the book is the 1997 version—so I don’t know of any changes that have been made to the newer ones. That’s why the link will take you to the older one, but there is even a DVD series from this book you might want to check out).
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