4 MAT Review on The Life You've Always Wanted by Ortberg Essay

4 MAT Review on The Life You've Always Wanted by Ortberg - Essay Example I will be with you.† God will not stop at repairing our brokenness but go on to make us new again. True transformation means loving God and people more and more. If we are to achieve that, we must not be content with trying hard at it, but commit to a life of training for it. That entails real discipline. Spiritual discipline is any activity that can help us gain power to live life as Jesus taught and modeled it. It may be through prayer, solitude, work, worship, suffering or even play and celebration. Those training hard to be spiritually transformed must not focus on boundaries – judging others as being less than they are. That is pseudo-transformation. They must always remember to be like Jesus, as he does not focus on boundaries, but instead, focuses on the center of spirituality which is love for God and people. The reward of training to achieve a transformed spiritual life is a well-ordered heart which increasingly desires to avoid sin to be totally close to God and to never be outside His circle of blessings. Indeed, such is the heart of a person living the life we’ve always wanted. Back when I was a lot younger, a friend of mine decided to join a Christian Singles Group. She had the time of her life, always fired up for their weekly meetings and bible discussions. She looked forward to all the fellowship activities. She kept inviting me to join her and share the joy she experienced being part of the group. Somehow, I managed to avoid saying â€Å"yes†, as I reasoned I had too much to do. Exasperated at my dodging, she said something that really hit home. â€Å"It’s hard for me to be in this position where I am advancing in my spirituality while you are being left behind.† I didn’t know exactly how I felt about what she said. It seemed like a multi-edged sword of sympathy, compassion, concern, pity, criticism, insult that was driven deep in my