Rick Warren interview

This is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick
Warren, author of "Purpose Driven Life"

His wife now has cancer, and he now has "wealth"
from the book sales.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick
Warren, Rick said:

"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. "

Quote of the post
"learn from others"