The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You

I am not the me I want to be. You are not either. Both of us desire to become better people. But what does better mean? And how do we become better? In his latest book, John Ortberg answers both questions with gentle wit and spiritual insight. Ortberg is pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, California, and author of several books, including Love Beyond Reason; The Life You've Always Wanted; If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get out of the Boat; and God Is Closer Than You Think--all of which I highly recommend. The Me I Want to Be is about spiritual formation, which Ortberg defines as "the process by which your inner self and character are shaped." Many people use the word spiritual in distinction from, or even contradiction to, physical. Two unfortunate consequences of this distinction are that it separates spirituality from everyday life and then narrowly equates spirituality with the spiritual disciplines. Ortberg rejects this distinction. Your whole life is spiritual, not just the praying, Bible-reading, and church-going part. And while spiritual disciplines are indispensable, they are not the only way God forms your inner self. For Ortberg, a spiritually formed person is a flourishing person. He writes: "Your deepest longing should be to be alive with God, to become the person God made you to be, and to be used to help God's world flourish." Spiritual formation, then, involves your relationship with God, your growth in Christlikeness, and your mission to the world God is redeeming. How do you become a flourishing person? "The only way to become the person God made you to be," Ortberg writes, "is to live with the Spirit of God flowing through you like a river of living water." Spiritual formation is not about trying harder, which only results in fatigue, failure, and guilt. Rather, spiritual formation is about discovering and moving with the flow of the Holy Spirit in your spirit, mind, use of time, relationships, and experiences. For Ortberg, the Holy Spirit does not replace you, he redeems you. Spiritual formation is not about becoming wholly different than who you are now. It is about taking who you are now and refining you in God's image. Two examples: Drawing on the work of Michael Mangis, Ortberg talks about "signature sins." He writes, "the pattern of your sin is related to the pattern of your strengths." When you operate in the flow of the Spirit, God does not eradicate your strengths in order to eradicate your sins. Rather, he works out your sins to help you build on your strengths. Another example: Many people believe that a spiritually well-formed person will go into some kind of vocational ministry. Ortberg strongly disagrees. The Bible is a book written by workers about workers for workers," he writes, and by workers he means people who are not vocational ministers. "Most adults spend about half their waking lives at work," he goes on to say. "Your work is a huge part of God's plan for your life

The Me I Want To Be is the first book written by John Ortberg I've read. And what a first read it is! It spoke to the intellect but captivated my heart by its authenticity. I was thoroughly fascinated by his ability to present an in depth study of Spiritual formation without making it laborious reading. Mr. Ortberg kept me engaged from the first to last chapter by weaving scripture, personal accounts, others studies, and sometimes quite humorous anecdotes into a book I did not want to finish because of the enjoyment and value it gave me throughout. There is not one page in my book in which a thought, sentence, or paragraph, is not underlined, asterisked, or highlighted. The Me I Want To Be has become a compendium of spiritual insights to which I have frequently referred. I recently shared a passage from this book with my Sunday school class on how perseverance was being shaped in the life of Joseph. The intent was to illuminate more on the subject, but too, of whetting the classes appetite for presenting more of John Ortberg and his small group studies. I have since purchased The Me I Want To Be curriculum and am looking forward to using it for our next study.

I've been on this intimacy journey these past 12 months as God keeps drawing me to Himself. I've read many helpful books along the way and John Ortberg's book is a refreshing practical guide to walking an intimate life with God. Ortberg emphasises we all have a unique journey which is important to reflect on. How many times are we drawn to have our prayer times along the beach, or spend days fasting, or doing such and such, just because we've heard these practical ways have helped others to develop greater intimacy with God? Seek out God in our own individual way, He'll lead us, if we have the desire and the will to find it. Ortberg takes us through various aspects of our life: thought life, temptation, worrying, spiritual life, relationships and work. He adopts a good mix of sound scripturally-based instruction, psychology with research results (yes, there are lab rat results provided in some chapters), analogies, examples and practical steps to step us through how we can enhance each area of our life to draw closer to God. The book starts strong and continues in that vein for the majority of it. I found it flattened out a little through the middle, however, that maybe because he covered similar themes to that which I've spent a lot of time thinking through already. But the book ends with a bang. The last 2 chapters in particular dealing with trials and "asking for mountains to climb" are just superb. The life story of a Evelyn "Granny" Brand is wonderfully inspiring. If you are someone who has a longing to be "alive with God, to become the person God made you to be, and to be used to help God's world flourish" and am seeking some instruction on how to achieve such, then buy this book, devour it and start putting into practice some of the ideas Ortberg proposes. I've already started implementing some, particularly, those relating to my thought life. Congratulations John on a terrific book filled with such insight, passion and desire to help others achieve intimacy with God.

I've been pleasantly surprised by this book. After years of reading books of this nature, you start to realize that some of them say the very same thing as the last one you read. Not so with Ortberg! This book is not only biblically sound, it is hilarious. If you like a good anecdotes mixed in with your scripture, I'd highly recommend this book. Every time I sit down to read a chapter or two, I chuckle, I'm forced to pause and ponder the points Ortberg is making, and I feel like I've learned something by the time I put it down. 5 stars!!!

So many new spiritual formation books are written each year that it's easy to ignore the entire subfield under the assumption that just about everything there is to say has already been said. I think there's some merit to that assumption. But, applying that assumption to this book would be a mistake! I see this book as a love letter from Rev. Ortberg to the Evangelical community. It's a beautiful - and often humorous - call to experience the joy of flowing with the Spirit. But, in calling us to a place of love and beauty and joy, Ortberg in no way minimizes the importance of obedience to Christ and surrender to Him. In other words, he writes with both feet planted firmly in the Evangelical world. The book contains much more than ennobling rhetoric. Yes, Rev. Ortberg calls us to a higher place, and that message is convicting. But, he also provides practical tools and tips for getting there. As you read this book, you'll feel as if you were a member of Rev. Ortberg's church and had come to him, with a request for spiritual mentoring. The practical application material covers a wide variety of topics. But, don't be deceived by the breadth of topics covered or Rev. Ortberg's conversational writing style. This book isn't just broad and chatty, it is also very, very deep! It reflects what C.S. Lewis refers to as "the simplicity that lies beyond complexity." The seamless interweaving of Scripture and practical application material will both challenge you to grow closer to God and provide tools for doing so. Most importantly, I'm already applying that material, and I've committed to revisiting the book from time to time, as a spiritual "checkup". I've benefitted from this book, and I highly recommend it.