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Gordon MacDonald wrote "Ordering Your Private World" because he saw many Christians at the point of spiritual and emotional collapse. Everywhere he looked he saw busy people in the process of "caving in" under the pressure of home, work and church life.
He likened the phenomena to a famous sinkhole disaster that occurred in Florida some years ago. Residents in that state were one day stunned to discover houses in a particular town tumbling into great caverns that had opened up without warning. Subterranean water currents had carved out great underground hollows seriously weakening the load-bearing ability of the land surface above. Eventually the caverns reached a size where the surface crust couldn't support the weight of the homes built on it. Frightening house-swallowing sinkholes resulted.
That, writes MacDonald, is a picture of what is happening in Christian lives. Many Christians are so busy with their outer world (work, sports, children, church meetings etc.), that they neglect their inner world (their minds and hearts). And eventually, that leads to a sinkhole-like collapse. "More programs, more meetings, more learning experiences, more relationships, more busyness," he says, "until it all becomes so heavy at the surface of life that the whole thing trembles on the verge of a collapse. Fatigue, disillusionment, failure, defeat all become frightening possibilities. The neglected private world can no longer hold the weight." p. 16
Part of the reason for this lies in the more obvious and demanding nature of our public or outer worlds. "Our public worlds," MacDonald continues, "are filled with a seeming infinity of demands on our time, our loyalties, our money and our energies. And because these public worlds of ours are so visible, so real, we have to struggle to ignore all their seduction and demands. They scream for our attention and action" (pp. 14-15). The result is that "our private world is often cheated, neglected because it does not shout so loudly" (p. 15).
The peril of this lies in the fact that our inner world - the realm of our thoughts, beliefs and choices; our "heart" - is that which ultimately sustains and directs us. The writer of Proverbs 4:23 put it this way: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Jesus said something similar when he spoke of our words, thoughts and desires coming from our hearts (Lk. 6:45, Mk 7:20-23). Our Creator has made us, says Gordon MacDonald, "to work most effectively from the inner world toward the outer" (p. 23). That's what makes the protection and nourishment of our inner world so important, and the consequences of neglecting it so dreadful.
The biblical writers make it clear, says MacDonald, that our highest priority ought be "the maintenance and development of our inner worlds" (p. 23). His book encourages us to make this so. It offers insights from the author's own struggles, and advice from saints in the past, as a help to Christians facing the hassle of life in the modern world.
The problem that MacDonald identifies is very real. Burnout, breakdowns and blow-ups - the classical trio of sinkhole symptoms (p. 21) - are visible everywhere. Frenetic outer busyness and the neglect of serious thought, reflection and prayer are part of modern life. Yes - the problem is there all right. What about the remedy? We will begin to consider that next week.