Rick Warren's A Life of Purpose Review

Rating: 9.2/10
Website: http://rickwarren.org

This is perhaps my favourite sermon. It has impacted my life the most thus far. I'm the person who likes to plan huge lofty goals, and hopes to one day to make it far in multiple industries. This sermon gives me a slight reality check, provides me with hope, and reminds me exactly what my life is all about.

The talk is a Ted Talk labelled as A Life of Purpose. Essentially, Warren is talking about the success of his book, A Purpose Driven Life. Surprisingly, this book, although very Christian in nature, averaged up to a million copies sold each month in 2006. Warren states that he thinks the reason for this is spiritual emptiness. Spiritual emptiness brings a life with no purpose. The issue of no purpose is not a religious problem, but a human problem.

A major part of this speech is Warren's testimony about his trials as a successful author. Warren states that he struggled to find the purpose behind the success of his book. Two things happened as a result of the book to Warren; a huge amount of money flooded into his household, and he garnered international attention. Now according to his worldview, which is what he describes is what he is betting his life on (that Jesus is who He claimed to be), this attention and money had to be put to a certain use.

So Rick Warren made decisions regarding the money, such as not using it for himself, giving it back to the church, and finally setting up charitable organizations. Warren concludes that the testament of a good life is not about feeling good, but rather being good, and doing good things.

Finally, Warren also had to deal with the attention, which he said was even more difficult then dealing with the money. Attention has everything to deal with influence Warren argues. The purpose of that influence is to speak for those who have no influence.

Perhaps the highlight of this speech, is Rick Warren's interpretation of the story of Moses, especially concerning the episode with the burning bush. Through this burning bush, God is talking to Moses. One of the questions God asks is, "What's in your hand?" As Warren explains, this may be the most important question you are ever asked. Moses replies a shepherd staff. God tells him to throw it down, and it turns into a snake. God then commands Moses to pick that snake up, and it returns to its original form as a staff. Key to this story is the shepherd staff in Moses' hand. It represented his identity as a shepherd, it was a symbol of his income, and finally it was a symbol of his influence. God asked him to lay that all down at His feet, and He made it come alive.

So what's in your hand? What has God given you to use? What can you do to make the world a better place? What is your life wired to be like?

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Reading First Samuel

Especially in the Old Testament, I love reading about the characters of history. Just like I mentioned in Numbers, it's amazing to think that these events actually happened, and these people actually walked on this planet. I've really been focusing on certain characters from each book, and trying to see if their lessons learned apply to my life.

The character that jumped out at me from First Samuel is Saul. An interesting exercise that I like to participate it when reading historical narratives in the Bible, and focusing on these characters, is to select certain qualities that are similar in myself. I also like to search for qualities that I don't have, but would like to work on.

Saul is an interesting character, and a lot can be highlighted from his very eventful life. I want to highlight two specific things though, one negative and one positive.

Starting with the negative, Saul was very power hungry. I think this was the root of almost all of his problems. He was continually searching for more power, or to maintain his control or grip over the power he already had obtained. Ultimately, this consumed his life, and flooded over into his decisions and actions, which in turn changed Saul's character. He went from a shy, mild mannered man, to a angry, self-conscious, wary, short-fused king. He spent much of his life searching for David, to kill him to maintain his own hold on the throne. He snapped multiple times in the quest of control over the throne, throwing spears at multiple people. He decided to disobey God, just to get the favor of the people to keep his power. He even went ahead and offered sacrifices to God without the priest (Samuel) just to make sure the people didn't leave him. All of Saul's actions were drastic measures to keep the power or gain more.

However, Saul wasn't always this way. Before he was anointed as king, Saul was the obedient, meek son. He jumped at the opportunity to help his father, and was well respected in the community. It was only after he tasted power for the first time that his character changed.

I feel a slight connection with Saul. I have the same issue where power can become an overtaking search in my life. I believe there are many Christians who have the same problem. For some, it is a matter of staying away from those leadership positions that offer power. But we all can't do that, and sometimes it is better to have Christians in those leadership positions.

The best tip that I have found that works, is rather then make that leadership position about you, and your decisions or successes, make it about God. Turn everything back to the Lord. If Saul would have done that as king, he would have been recognized as a success instead of a failure, a madman. Same as every leader in the world!

The Grocery Store Brawl

Check out my first published book! I wrote this short story as a school project in Grade 7, and have been working on the illustrations ever since. This is the first book in my Green Guy series, geared towards young kids.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/the-grocery-store-brawl/id963257195?mt=11

Reading Ruth

Ruth has continually been a book in the Bible that I've struggled to get or understand, surprisingly. I say surprisingly for a few reasons. First, it's such a short book. Second, it is such a commonly heard story. Thirdly, it's exactly that; a historical story.

Whenever I read books from the Bible, I'm always searching for higher meaning, or a greater purpose. Because the Bible is essentially the Word of God, I continually feel that I have to search for the reason why each book is included, each sentence, each word. This can be a good thing, but sometimes it takes away from the overall experience of reading the Bible. A balance has to be found between a search for factual knowledge and enlightenment, and for personal application.

So, when it comes to Ruth, while I continually search for that factual enlightenment, or amazing tidbit of insight, I should also be searching for the personal impact or lessons that can be applied to my life. For some reason, I never consider that God may have included these stories simply for the lessons applied to the present.

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So what personal lessons can be taken from Ruth? Actually, the book is chalk full of them when you read through it with that goal in mind.

First, family is extremely important. Ruth is the person that God is using as the model in the story. Her first defining quality that is revealed is her dedication to her family. While the easiest decision would have been to stay in her home country and get re-married, she was so dedicated to her family, and her mother-in-law that she uprooted her whole future, just to be with Naomi, and to support her.

Second, she was extremely obedient. Whenever anyone asked something of her, or ordered her to do something, she did it wholeheartedly, without ever complaining or asking any questions.

Thirdly, Ruth is an example of how to live through pain and come out of trials in the end. Ruth must have been extremely distraught with the death of her husband, and most of her family. Yet, she struggled through it, and ultimately came out on top, with a new husband, who was extremely respected, and wealthy. She herself was also respected in a small community she could call family, and she bore sons who would grow to become great men historically.

Commonly Ruth is used as an example of a Gentile being accepted into God's family from the Old Testament as a lesson. I chose not to include this, because there is no proof that Ruth actually accepted God into her heart. The most likely conclusion is that she did, based upon her statement that she wanted Naomi's God to be her God, yet there is no evidence past this. As a local pastor once said, "assumption is the lowest form of knowledge." While it does make for a great story, I would choose to draw other, stronger conclusions from the book, rather then just possibilities.

Reading Judges

Recall the discussion of the two-fold promise of God in Deuteronomy? The one where He promised amazing things if the Israelites obeyed Him, and extreme punishment if they disobeyed Him? The book of Judges provides a crystal clear historical example of the results of that promise.

The cycle in Judges is stupendous. You'd think that the Israelites would have learned from their mistakes after a few times of doing the same things over and over again, and having the same results every time. However, they didn't, and the cycle continued on and on.

Here's what happened in that cycle. It all started with the Israelites choosing, much like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, to disobey God. They chose to attempt to follow false gods, or idols, or things of the world. By doing so, they basically turned their backs on God, and decided to place themselves before His will. This sparked God's punishment, which was essentially returning the favour, and turning His back on them. Much of the punishment came in the form of foreigners attacking, terrorizing, and ruling over the Israelites for many years.

Here's the difference between man and God though. While we may turn our backs on God, and God turns His back on us, He is extremely willing to turn right back and around and reconnect in that relationship. In fact, He continually looks over His shoulder while we continue our disobedience, hoping we will see our foolishness, and putting people and situations in place to shake us awake.

Thus begins the next step in the cycle. God hand picks certain people to lead the Israelites back to Him. Most times this happens through a certain warrior who conquers the terrorists of that time period. By freeing the people of that outside influence, this warrior or judge leads the Israelites back to worship of God. When this happens, the people experience a time of safety and fruitfulness.

However, for some unstated reason, the Israelites would always abandon that safety, and would choose to turn away from God. Thus the cycle starts all over, back to the time of choosing false Gods, and being punished. Now we can speculate that the reason for disobedience might be dissatisfaction, longing for more, sinful nature, outside influence, and on and on.

Even though we may state that this should have been the easiest decision in anyone's life, and that the Israelites must have been blind not to see the cycle in front of them, we do the same thing as the Israelites and constantly disobey God. And we have more then the Israelites did in that time, in the form of history from the Bible. Yet for some reason, we continue to disobey God.

Now, there has been an argument made regarding if obeying God actually produces times of perfect happiness and such. Ultimately, my opinion on the subject is that trivial things that used to bother you won't anymore, and that when bad things do happen, you are able to go through those situations with a better frame of mind, or perspective, and therefore with a better attitude.

Ultimately, the book of Judges should provide a lesson for us, one that may be difficult to apply, but is extremely important to at least attempt to take to heart.

Reading Joshua

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Commonly, the focus when discussing Joshua is to look at the principles of a "Just War". The topic remains a huge discussion point amongst Christian circles, and a huge apologetical issue. It is extremely hard for many to understand why the Israelites would completely wipe out entire nations in this book under the premise of a "holy war" when the Bible does state that we are to turn our cheek. Ultimately, there is answers for such questions, but I will be addressing this "Just War" one in a later post.

For this book review, I want to focus on the person of Joshua. To me, he remains one of the best Old Testament biblical men to model your life after, due to multiple reasons.

First, Joshua had the perfect start to his career in leadership. He found someone who had immense knowledge, a wealth of opportunities, and a strong relationship with God. Moses was the perfect mentor for Joshua. Much of his success comes from the fact that he spent so much time learning and developing under Moses, and then modelling himself after that figure.

After that, Joshua remained wholly committed to his task. He knew what God had called him to do, and he never wavered from that purpose. Everything he did was to achieve his task of settling the Israelites in the Promised Land. His whole life was dedicated to that purpose, and Joshua threw himself passionately into that work throughout the book. There's a huge lesson there that we need to apply to our own lives.

Joshua was also a commanding leader. The people respected him, and followed him whole heartedly wherever he went. They listened to what he said, and obeyed immediately. That kind of leadership doesn't just happen.

In Joshua's case, I'm going to bet the people saw God's hand in his life, just as it had been in Moses', and because of that, they were willing to crown him their leader. When success dominates your life, people are willing to follow you until failure creeps in. However, when you deal successfully with failure, you will never lose your following. They will respect you and hold you in high regard, doing whatever you ask of them. Joshua possessed that character, mainly because he remained wholly focussed on God.

While commonly Joshua is idolized because of his warrior escapades, a trait that is coveted by men of every age, I think we should start respecting him because of his character instead. While there is no question that he was a warrior by nature, he was also a leader, and a servant of God. Everything he did was to glorify God. Men of every age need to start coveting that trait instead.

Reading Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is perhaps my second favourite book of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, behind only Genesis. I love that the book is basically a synopsis of the Israelites' journey thus far, from the man (Moses) who was unquestionably the greatest leader during that time. It's a firsthand account of perhaps the greatest moments of history for Christianity.

Putting aside that uniqueness of the book, I noticed another major theme that prevailed for the entirety of Deuteronomy. Much like the other law books, with all the rules and numbers, there seems to be a special perspective on much of the same content as the other 4 books.

Over and over again, throughout Moses' recap, he offers two promises. They both are structured so that they contradict or contrast each other.

The first is if the Israelites obey God's commandments, He will bless them beyond belief. They will enjoy a time of peace, freedom, happiness, joy, and fulfillment. God will be with them always, and everyone will know that the Israelites are God's people. Basically, life would be great for the people, if only they would obey God's commandments.

The second promise regards the results if the Israelites disobey God's commandments. Not only will God strip away all His blessings, but He will take further action and punishment. He will make sure that the Israelites do not rest at all, are constantly concerned for their safety, are slaves, are unhappy, discontent, afraid, and despairing. Basically, the opposite of the blessings of God. He will be distant from them, and the Israelites will no longer be God's people.

This is continually repeated by Moses, chapter after chapter. Not only does it show how much God cares about His people that He is giving them due warning, but also how much Moses cares about what God is attempting to do. Even though Moses' lifetime has been filled with frustration over the disobedience of the Israelites, he is still working with God to try and help the future generations to avoid those past mistakes. He is making sure that they fully understand God's two promises, the two opposite ends of life.

Even though this was presented in the Old Testament, I think it can still apply to our lives today. Obviously, we can see very clearly throughout the Old Testament that God was not kidding with these promises. Continually the Israelites went through a cycle where they would obey God, and everything would be great, and then they would turn to a different God and times of great pain would ensue. Ultimately, this promise served the greater purpose for the Old Testament people, but in a way, it still stands today. While not as direct, the results of our choices produce similar results to what Moses warned in Deuteronomy.

If we obey God, we live in a better way. While we may still experience trial and pain, we are closer to God, and therefore experience greater happiness and joy in heavenly things. We see life in a different way, and therefore live our lives in a different way. However, if we disobey God, it is only a matter of time before our choices drag us down. While some may say that without God they are doing just fine, they are covering that sense of something else that is dominating their lives. Really, they are ignoring the search for God, that is trying to grip their souls. Pain will be greater, hopelessness will overcome the life, and all happiness will be gone.

God has done His part in warning us, we need to do ours in obeying His commandments. Really, these warnings are for our benefit, and not His.