When the final proof of my book arrived from the publisher, one glaring change had been made to it–the subtitle.  I had originally named it Alive on the Inside, A Biblical Survey of the Inner Life.

By using the word “biblical,” I had hoped to defuse any mistaken perception of pagan/new age content.  That way I would find it easier to reach my intended audience of believers, rather than folks who were looking for crystals, UFO’s, and other mystical claptrap.  

Anyway, that was my intention.

The new subtitle, though, simply read Cultivating Your Inner Life.   I wasn’t thrilled.  By subtracting “biblical,” I felt it removed face value assurance that reading the book would be a scriptural journey, and not a magical mystery tour.    

But I think I understood the publisher’s reasoning.  My former subtitle had sounded a bit academic.  “Survey” doesn’t exactly stimulate most people.  The new subtitle promised the would-be reader that he or she would be assisted in cultivating something.  A cover ought to do the important work of advertising such benefits.  

I swallowed hard and decided to go with it.  

“Inner life” tends to be a niche term, not quite in the evangelical mainstream.  I often use “spiritual life” as a recognizable replacement for it, but I’ve noticed even that expression can be a big junk drawer.  Everything tends to get deposited there, from ceremonialism to mere whimsy.      

Maybe “devotional life” would be a better substitute.  I often choose that word, too, but it tends to be overly specific.  The quiet time, leather-chair-and-latte thing evangelicals do doesn’t capture a broad enough understanding of inner life.

Okay.  Enough obsessing.  I accepted the revised cover copy, even at the risk of being misunderstood.  And in fact, for a while, Amazon kept recommending authors “associated” with me who had as much loyalty to the Bible as they did to Peter Pan.  

As always though, when it comes to explanations, the book you write, not the cover, must ultimately do the heavy lifting.  

It can be downright tricky any time you unpack inner life.  The challenge lies in identifying and encouraging experiences that are reasonably common for all believers.  These are things every child of God has available.  We neglect some of them.  Others, we emphasize to the point of imbalance.   

After forty years of first-person experience, and an open Bible, I’ve distilled a few that are critical for spiritual life development.      

    1.  Handling interruptions to your fellowship with God.   This involves applying the blood of Jesus to an ill-affected conscience–in short, dealing with the internal, destructive effects of our sins.  
    2. Developing a worshipful enjoyment of God.   Worship results from tasting, and savoring the glory of God.  It emerges from a baseline proficiency in bringing the Word together with Prayer.
    3. Discerning personal directions.   This aspect of inner life, also known as the leading of the Holy Spirit, comes through an intuitive process.  It depends on receiving wisdom from God rather than just feelings, or external circumstances.   
    4. Growing with others who are learning the former three items.  Yes, the church is an indispensable component of inner life development. This especially includes imperfect churches, and difficult people.  
    5. Keeping the back door open.    The life that flowed into you, and is being cultivated, needs to flow out to other people, both in words and work.  We weren’t called to be hermetically sealed containers.  

There.  That’s a high level overview of how the book explains inner life.  These few starter points present the subject as distinctly Christian, and critical to our forward development…all without a mystical pile of  mushrooms.