Rick
Warren is the pastor of the Saddleback
Church in California and author of the famous book, Purpose Driven Life.
In
the
interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick's message is very soothing and
refreshing. You
will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having
cancer and him having "wealth" from the book sales. This is an
absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren. Let's learn from his
wisdom.
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life
is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to
be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not
the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend
trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.
God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going
to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out
of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your
comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life
happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The
goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with
my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time,
then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two
rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and
something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that
needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good
you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness "which
is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to
get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands
of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.
It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character,
given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony,
drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this
past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made
me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with
before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for
you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and
influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do,
II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle
one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second,
about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third,
we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant
churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate
the next generation.
Fourth,
I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the
church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for
free.
We
need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or
am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)
When
I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I
don't get anything else done today, I want to know You
more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do
list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, praise God. Difficult moments, seek God. Quiet moments,
worship God. Painful moments, trust God. Every moment, thank God. This is beautiful and food for the soul.
Share and tell a friend.
By Tim Pedrosa
God
gives the best to those who leave the choice to Him. Thank God for
what have; trust Him for what you need. |
Tim
|