SUMMARY: The Purpose-Driven Life

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The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren (Zondervan, 2002, 334 pages, $19.99). Topic: PURPOSE

More than once, God used a time period of 40 days to change the lives of people in the Bible. Noah spent 40 days on the ark watching the rain come down. Moses spent 40 days with God on Mount Sinai. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. Rick Warren's book provides "a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for?"
The Purpose-Driven Life has 40 chapters. Warren encourages readers to study one a day for 40 days. He begins by emphasizing that we were made for God's purposes, not for our own. Until we discover God's purpose for our lives, we will not arrive at the sense of fulfillment for which we were created.
The 40-day journey is based around five assertions:
•You were planned for God's pleasure.
•You were formed for God's family.
•You were created to become like Christ.
•You were shaped for serving God.
•You were made for a mission.
As you determine your place within these five purposes, you will discover the greater, cosmic reason why you are here. "Death is not your termination, but your transition into eternity, so there are eternal consequences to everything you do on earth. Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity. Since the ultimate purpose for everything in the universe is to glorify God, every believer must also make this goal the reason for his or her existence."

Planned for God's pleasure
God created us for His pleasure. Worshipping Him is how we please Him. "This is the secret of a lifestyle of worship--doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus." We can only do this as we surrender our hearts to God. We surrender our lives to God as a one-time event, and we continue to practice surrender daily. This kind of deep relationship with God allows us to become friends with our heavenly Father through "constant conversation" with Him and "continual meditation" on His Word.
As in any relationship, honesty provides the foundation. We must be honest with God about every part of our lives. Just as the psalmists poured out authentic feelings to God, we must also reveal our hearts to Him.
Giving our full devotion, our act of worship, must be accurate, authentic, thoughtful, practical, and rooted in God's Word. "The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain, thanking God during a trial, trusting Him when tempted, surrendering while suffering, and loving Him when He seems distant." Feeling that God is far away is not a sign of sin in our lives, but a test of our faith in God. As we face this trial, we must tell Him how we feel and focus on His unchanging nature.

Formed for God's family
As believers, we are part of an eternal family--one that will outlast our physical family. Our baptism identifies us with our eternal family and gives testimony to the fact that we are God's children.
The main focus of our family in life is learning how to love. "Because God is love, the most important lesson He wants you to learn on earth is how to love. It is in loving that we are most like Him, so love is the foundation of every command He has given us."
We love God through worship. Then we love others because God has given us that purpose in life. The most important way we express love to our family members is through the use of our time. Every other commodity on earth can be increased, but each person has just so many hours and minutes. In giving time, we give of ourselves.
Our spiritual family also provides us with a place to belong, a connection for eternity. "Disconnected and cut off from the lifeblood of a local body, your spiritual life will wither and eventually cease to exist." Our spiritual family also provides us with fellowship. Real fellowship in the New Testament sense means "experiencing life together," being authentic with each other, sympathizing with others, and showing mercy. "Many people are reluctant to show mercy because they don't understand the difference between trust and forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past. Trust has to do with future behavior."
As we live within our spiritual community, we must be committed to it. This takes a resolve to work through the difficult parts of relationships as well as to enjoy the warm aspects. Our attitude must be one of humility, respect for our differences, and confidentiality. Community requires frequent contact with a small group or class in which we can share our feelings and support each other and work to restore broken relationships and protect the unity of the church.

Created to become like Christ
God's intended goal for the believer's life is to become Christlike. This process is not focused on becoming more comfortable in our circumstances on earth, but on developing character. The process of becoming more like God's Son is called sanctification, and it takes our cooperation with the Holy Spirit. The transformation involves a change in the way we think, which happens as we abide in God's Word.
As fallible humans, we cannot develop character unless we go through trouble. Therefore, we must consider every hard place in our lives as sent by God for a purpose. "Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days." Yet as we rejoice, refuse to give up, and flee from temptation, God will build our character. Each temptation we face is our opportunity to choose God's way, which develops the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

Shaped for serving God
Since we have been called to serve God, the most important thing is not the duration of our lives, but the donation of them. Warren uses an acrostic to describe the combination of capabilities that allows us to serve God:
Spiritual gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience
God gives us spiritual gifts for the benefit of others. Each of us is unique and has a special contribution to make in the body of Christ. "You are the only person on earth who can use your abilities. No one else can play your role because they don't have the unique shape that God has given you." Therefore, you bring something to the body of Christ that no one else can bring. That's why God expects each of us to make the most of what He has given us. If we don't use what God has given us, we will lose it.
We must minister with a servant attitude because that is how greatness is determined in the kingdom of God. A servant makes himself available, pays attention to needs of others, is dedicated to the task, and is faithful to his or her ministry. A servant does not desire personal aggrandizement but maintains a low profile.
An important aspect of ministry is realizing that God uses our weaknesses, not our strengths. Sometimes God allows weakness in our lives to keep our egos in check and to keep us from running ahead of Him. "Our strengths create competition, but our weaknesses create community." As we glory in our weaknesses, we are able to give God the credit for what has been done.

Made for a mission
In ministry, we serve our brothers and sisters in the Lord. But our mission is to reach out to unbelievers and bring them into the family. By participating in mission, we create a circle of purpose.
Jesus gave us the Great Commission before He left the earth. We now have the privilege of telling others how they can have eternal life and purpose for living. To fulfill our mission, we must forsake our own plans and accept God's agenda. In return, "there is almost nothing God won't do for the man or woman who is committed to serving the kingdom of God."
The most effective way of reaching out to others with the good news is by developing a life message, which includes a personal testimony, life lessons, godly passions, and the message of salvation.
Helping to fulfill the Great Commission enables us to become world-class Christians, ones who have an eternal perspective. An essential step is to balance the five purposes in life so that they can reflect God's work in our lives.
As we fulfill our five purposes in life, we are part of God's redemption plan for other people, who in turn can then begin to fulfill the five purposes for their lives.
"Living on purpose is the only way to really live. Everything else is just existing." To stay on track with our purpose in life, we can develop a life statement that summarizes what God wants to do with our lives. From this statement, we can set goals and keep our focus over the years.

About the author
Rick Warren is the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Mission Viejo, California. He started the church more than 20 years ago and preaches to 15,000 people each weekend. Warren is also author of the best-seller The Purpose-Driven Church.