“We must care about unbelievers because God does. Love leaves no choice. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear.”18 A parent will run into a burning building to save a child because their love for that child is greater than their fear.”
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Rick Warren
“A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. PROVERBS 11:28”
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Rick Warren
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others. Humble people are so focused on serving others, they don't think of themselves.”
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Rick Warren
“God is not a cruel slave driver or a bully who uses brute force to coerce us into submission. He doesn’t try to break our will, but woos us to himself so that we might offer ourselves freely to him. God is a lover and a liberator, and surrendering to him brings freedom, not bondage. When we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus, we discover that he is not a tyrant, but a savior; not a boss, but a brother; not a dictator, but a friend.”
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Rick Warren
“The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point—ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose.”
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Rick Warren
“Pain is the fuel of passion — it energizes us with an intensity to change that we don’t normally possess. C. S. Lewis said, “Pain is God’s megaphone.” It is God’s way of arousing us from spiritual lethargy. Your problems are not punishment; they are wake-up calls from a loving God. God is not mad at you; he’s mad about you, and he will do whatever it takes to bring you back into fellowship with him.”
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Rick Warren
“You are never persuasive when you're abrasive.”
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Rick Warren
“DAY 6 Thinking about My Purpose POINT TO PONDER: This world is not my home. VERSE TO REMEMBER: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 CORINTHIANS 4:18 (NIV) QUESTION TO CONSIDER: How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?”
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Rick Warren
“Most men lead lives of aimless distraction.”
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Rick Warren
“Thinking about My Purpose POINT TO PONDER: Happiness is my choice. I don’t need anyone’s approval to be happy. VERSE TO REMEMBER: “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.” PSALM 27:10 (NLT) QUESTION TO CONSIDER: Whose opinion matters most to me? Whose approval am I living for?”
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Rick Warren
“Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent. While your offender has probably forgotten the offense and gone on with life, you continue to stew in your pain, perpetuating the past. Listen: those who hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. Your past is past! Nothing will change it. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness. For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go.”
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Rick Warren
“What are you doing personally to make your church family more warm and loving? There are many people in your community who are looking for love and a place to belong. The truth is, everyone needs and wants to be loved, and when people find a church where members genuinely love and care for each other, you would have to lock the doors to keep them away.”
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Rick Warren
“All sin, at its root, is failing to give God glory. It is loving anything else more than God. Refusing to bring glory to God is prideful rebellion, and it is the sin that caused Satan’s fall — and ours, too. In different ways we have all lived for our own glory, not God’s. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
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Rick Warren
“Genuine surrender says, “Father, if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another’s, please don’t take it away.” This level of maturity does not come easy.”
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Rick Warren
