Simplify Your Spiritual Life

Simplify Your Spiritual Life takes a different approach to discussing the spiritual disciplines. Rather than heavy exposition and theology, the book is a mosaic of encouragement and short tips on a variety of topics in spiritual growth. These topics are bite-sized 1-2 page nuggets: "Ask often 'What does the Bible say?'", "Meditate for Heat and Light", "Discipline Yourself without Legalism", "Remove one thing, organize one thing", and one of my favorites "Take a Nap". Even better, they don't really have to be read sequentially. Find one or two that seem of interest and read them, even if you only have a few minutes. (If you want something more meaty and instructive, see his other book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Whitney begins with first principles on the spiritual life and the role of spiritual disciplines, and why they're important even (especially?) for busy people. Then there are seven sections or themes which these short chapters discuss. Simplifying and Truth, Simplifying and Prayer, Simplifying and Your Journal, Simplifying and Your Mind, Simplifying and Your Heart, Simplifying and Your Time, Simplifying and Others. The thrust of the book is to present a variety of simple ideas in the hope that the reader can take a few and put them in practice. It's even better if they can replace something in their life that is cumbersome, time-consuming, or just not working, and replace it with something much simpler. There is much joy in the Christian life and in God's word that we too often bury with our own complications.

I'm always looking for ways to simplify my life ... "Simplicity" could almost be called my favorite hobby. But for some reason, even with all the simplifying I've done in my personal life, finances, chores, job-related work, etc., I really hadn't given much thought to simplifying my Christian spiritual disciplines. Whitney's book was a wake-up call. Full of clear, concise, practical Bible-based wisdom, this book has found a place on my shelf of "favorites." This book is written in short, easy-to-read, stand-alone chapters. When I have a few minutes when I want to read but don't have time to delve into a longer, involved chapter, I'll grab this book and read one of the two-page sections and feel like I have enough to think on and ponder for several days. Highly recommended for people serious about their Christian growth.

This book is full of wise and practical insights from Don Whitney. One would do well to obtain all Whitney has penned - he is the real deal! His standard work is Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.