What Are You Worried About?

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:6–7 MSG).

Two businessmen were talking about the economy:

Jack: “I’m about to lose my job and our house is in foreclosure, but I don’t worry about it.”
Bob: “How can you not be worried?”
Jack: “I’ve hired a professional worrier. He does all my worrying for me. That way I don’t have to think about it!”
Bob: “That’s a fantastic idea. How much does it cost to hire a professional worrier?”
Jack: “$50,000 a year.”
Bob: “$50,000! Where are you going to get that kind of money?”
Jack: “I don’t know. That’s HIS worry!”

Worry is something you learn to do.

There is no such thing as a “born worrier.” It is a learned response to life. You learned to worry from two sources:

1. You learned to worry from experience. After years of mistakes, failures, and unfulfilled expectations, you’ve discovered that things don’t always turn out right. Out of these experiences you formed the habit of worrying.

2. You learned to worry from examples. There are many models around you. Studies show that children usually pick up their parent’s worries. Anxious parents raise anxious kids.

Since worry is a learned response to life, it can be unlearned!

The starting point for overcoming worry is to realize it is useless. It does you no good to worry. It is “stewing without doing.” Worry has never changed anything. Worry cannot change the past. Worry cannot control the future. Worry only makes you miserable today.

Worry has never solved a problem, never paid a bill, and never cured an illness. It only paralyzes you so you can’t work on the solution. Worry is like racing a car when its engine is in neutral; it doesn’t get you anywhere, it just uses up gas.

The Bible teaches, “An anxious heart weighs a man down” (Proverbs 12:25 NIV).

On top of that, worry exaggerates the problem. It plays on your imagination. Have you ever noticed that when you worry about a problem it gets bigger? Every time you repeat if over and over in your mind you tend to add details, amplifying it so you feel worse.

What’s the solution? Instead of worrying, talk to God about what’s worrying you. He is someone who can do something about it.

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:6–7 MSG).

Rick Warren

God Is Watching over You

“Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:6 NLT).

God is watching over you.

When King David writes, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me,” he’s not saying, “Surely only good things will happen to me!”

The fact is bad things happen to good people. What David is teaching us is that God can take bad, evil, and difficult situations and bring something good out of them.

It’s one of God’s great promises to us: we can know that all things are working for our good “if we love God and are fitting into his plans” (Romans 8:28 LB). If you’re a believer, the Bible says all things are working together for good—not that all things are good, but that they work together for good. There’s no difficulty, dilemma, defeat, or disaster in life that God can’t ultimately turn toward good.

When you understand God’s grace and mercy, there’s no need to fear the future. God isn’t trying to get even with you. Jesus shouldered the penalty for everything you’ve ever done wrong or will do wrong. He paid for it on the cross. So when a bad thing happens, you don’t have to think, “God’s getting even with me.” That’s how God’s grace and mercy work.

Mercy, like goodness, follows us in life. Picture a parent following a little child around picking up after them; God is constantly picking up our messes.

Think about this:

• Christians go to the future, not with a question mark, but with an exclamation point. God will be with you no matter what happens. He will help you out.

• God’s goodness provides and protects; God’s mercy pardons and forgives. God’s goodness will supply; God’s mercy will sooth. God’s goodness will help; God’s mercy will heal.

• Goodness is the fact that God gives us good things in life that we don’t deserve. Mercy means God holds back the condemnation we deserve.

Rick Warren

Spiritual Habits of Effective People: Meeting Regularly

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another . . .” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT).

We develop spiritual fitness when we meet regularly and encourage one another. When you get together with other believers regularly, this is called fellowship—sharing and caring together in a small group.

Do you ever need encouragement? Life can be tough and we all get discouraged. The fact is you’re never going to be an effective Christian if you try to go it alone. You need encouragement. You need other people. Life was not meant to be lived by itself.

I grew up in northern California in a little town called Redwood Valley. Just north of us were the giant redwoods. Redwood trees have very shallow roots. They withstand the wind by spreading out and intertwining roots and they hold each other up. What a perfect picture of fellowship! We spread out, we intertwine, and we hold each other up. We strengthen each other.

Snow flakes are frail, but if enough of them stick together they can stop traffic. You can’t do a whole lot and I can’t do a whole lot, but together in a group we can do something. We can have an impact on this world.

Let me mention that I meet people who say, “I’m going to miss church this week. It’s no big deal.” They are simply unaware how you can dry up spiritually whenever you miss fellowship with other believers. In fact, you need to be in constant contact with other Christians, even beyond what you get on Sunday. You need more than just a “Sunday fix.” Every Christian needs a balance between large group celebration/worship and small group fellowship.

You need a big group so you can say, “I’m a part of something significant.” But you can’t share prayer requests within a large group; you can’t pray for each other; you can’t even know everybody. So you need to be in a small group, also.

What’s the result of getting together with other believers? “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 NIV).

Rick Warren

Spiritual Habits of Effective People: Tithing

“Bring this tithe to eat before the Lord your God at the place he shall choose as his sanctuary; this applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives” (Deuteronomy 14:23 LB).

We develop spiritual fitness when we honor God by giving him a tithe every week. Tithing is the spiritual habit of giving back to God the first 10 percent of all I make. If I make $100, I give $10 back to God; if I make $1000, I give $100 back to God. I get to keep 90 percent but I give 10 percent to him.

Why would anybody have to do that? Because God says so and that’s reason enough. If you don’t do it, you’re disobeying God. But there’s more reason. The reason I tithe is to draw me closer to God.

Jesus says, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:21 NLT). If I put my money in a boat, that’s where my affection goes. Wherever I put my money, that’s what becomes important to me. If I put God first when it comes to my money, it says, “God, you’re first in my life.”

If you show me how you spend your time and how you spend your money, I’ll show you what’s important in your life. No matter what you say is important—show me your schedule and your checkbook stubs and I’ll tell you what’s really important to you.

Deuteronomy 14:23 explains that, “The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives” (LB). If I say, “God, I want you to be number one in my life,” but he’s last place in my budget, that’s a contradiction.

The Bible teaches that giving is an antidote to materialism. The materialism of the world says, “Get, get, get.” The only antidote is giving; we do just the opposite of what the world says. As I learn to hold things with an open hand and return the first part to God, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life. It helps me develop the characteristics of God because “God so loved the world that he gave” (John 3:16). If you want to become like Jesus, you must learn to be a giver.

Rick Warren

Spiritual Habits of Effective People: Quiet Time

“Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk” (Psalm 25:4 LB).

Getting time with God each day is one of the spiritual habits of effective people. We develop spiritual fitness by having a quiet time each day for Bible reading and prayer.

What’s the reason for that? To get direction from God: “Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk” (Psalm 25:4 LB).

Sometimes we can get so busy in life that we can forget the direction we’re going. Like the pilot in World War II flying over the Pacific, he radioed back, “I have absolutely no idea where I’m going. I’m lost. But I’m making record time.”

Many times we get very busy. We need to slow down and get direction from God. This means we spend time with God on a daily basis; we talk to God in prayer; we let him talk to us from his Word; and we listen for his direction.

I can honestly say that every major decision in my life has been made in a quiet time.

Jesus is our model; he “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16 NIV). You can’t get to know God if you’re always in a crowd. You get to know God in a one-on-one encounter.

Notice the Bible says Jesus withdrew often; his quiet time was his source of strength.

And Jesus teaches that we are strengthened as we develop a deep and intimate relationship with him: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7 NIV).

Rick Warren

God Says You Are Forgiven

“I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you” (Isaiah 43:25 TEV).

Some of us, even though we’re believers, think whenever we’re having problems that God’s getting even with us; that God’s just trying to get back at us.

It’s like the guy who was driving up to a mountain lake and on the way up it starts snowing, so he gets out to put chains on his tires. While he’s doing this, another car comes along and slams into his car. And he watches in horror as his car goes over a cliff.

He continues up the mountain on foot, in the snow and sleet, and he’s getting sick from the cold. Then, as he rounds a corner, he sees that his cabin has burned down. He starts hitting his head against the wall, and asks, “Why me, God.” The heavens part and a voice says, “Because some people just tick me off.”

Some of you really feel that is the way God feels about you. You think that whenever you’ve got a problem, God is ticked off. But the Bible says, “I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you” (Isaiah 43:25 TEV). God doesn’t hold a grudge. If you have received Jesus as your Savior, then there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. He doesn't rub it in, he rubs it out. He doesn’t rehearse it, he releases it.

Rick Warren

God Says You Are Capable

“It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ” (2 Timothy 1:9 LB).

You have a right now to go directly to God; you have direct access. You don’t have to pray through anybody else. You don’t have to confess through anybody else. You don’t have to go through anyone else to have fellowship with God. The Bible teaches that you have a direct line now.

In addition, God says you have been gifted for ministry to serve other people. Every Christian is a minister. That doesn’t mean every Christian is a pastor, rather minister. Anytime you’re using your talents and gifts to help others you’re ministering.

Notice the Bible verse above says, “He saved us for his holy work.” You are saved to serve. Why did God save you? So you could serve him.

You may be thinking, “How do I know what my ministry is?” You look at your talents, your gifts, and your abilities. You look at how God shaped you. God wants you to use those talents and gifts to help other people. Every time you do that, that’s called ministry: nothing fancy, scary, or supernatural about it. It’s just helping others.

Can you minister in a sales office? Yes, you can. Can you minister as an accountant? Yes, you can. Can you minister driving a truck? Sure! Anytime you’re helping other people in his name, you’re ministering.

In fact, God says you’re necessary in the church. You’re a necessary part of this family. Look at it this way, if I don’t use my talents—you get cheated. If you don’t use your talents—I get cheated. Everybody else in the congregation gets cheated.

We’re all important; we’re all necessary to do our part as we fit together.

Rick Warren

God Says You Are Valuable

“You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him—be free now from all these earthly prides and fears” (1 Corinthians 7:23 LB).

God says not only are you accepted, you’re valuable.

How much do you think you’re worth? I’m not talking about your net worth; I’m talking about your self worth. Don’t ever confuse your valuables with your value as a person. You can be rich or poor but it has nothing to do with your value as a person.

What determines value? There are two things that determine value in life:

1. It depends on what someone is willing to pay for it. How much is your house worth? Not as much as you think it is, and probably not as much as it was a year ago. Your house is worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. No more.

How much is a baseball card worth? To some of you, it’s worth nothing. To Matthew, my son, it’s worth a lot of money. Some people are willing to pay $10,000 for a baseball card.

How much is a piece of art worth? Whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

2. It depends on who owned it in the past. Sometimes something is valuable because of who used to own it. For example, would a car owned by Elvis Presley be more valuable than a car you owned? Probably. Or, would a guitar be more valuable because it was owned by John Lennon? I read about a pair of stinky, smelly, worn out basketball shoes that sold for $7,000 at an auction because they happened to be owned by someone named Michael Jordan.

Based on these two things, what’s your value? Ask yourself, “Who owns me?” “What was paid for me?” The Bible says, “You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him—be free now from all these earthly prides and fears” (1 Corinthians 7:23 LB).

You have been bought and paid for by Christ. You belong to Jesus. How much does that make you worth?

Now ask yourself, “Who do I belong to?” The Bible says you belong to God. God exchanged his own Son for you! The cross proves your value. Jesus didn’t die for junk. You are incredibly valuable. Nobody has ever paid a greater price than God paid for you. You are acceptable and you are valuable!

Rick Warren

God Says You Are Accepted

“Therefore, accept each other in the same way that Christ accepted you. He did this to bring glory to God” (Romans 15:7 GWT).

Most of us spend our entire lives trying to earn acceptance. We want to earn it from our parents, peers, partners in life, from people we respect, maybe even from people we envy. The drive to be accepted is a deep drive that can influence the kind of clothes you wear, the kind of car you drive, the kind of house you buy, even the career you choose.

Remember as a kid you wanted so badly to be in the in-crowd that someone would say to you, “I dare you to do this,” and they’d suggest something that was either stupid, or that put your personal safety at risk. But, you did it anyway because your desire to be accepted overruled the desire for safety.

We do it because we love the feeling of “I’m OK, I’m accepted; somebody accepts me.” When you’re accepted, it does tremendous things for your self esteem. The truth is Jesus accepts you and that acceptance is not based on your performance. In fact, you may have received Christ and accepted Jesus into your life, but do you realize that you’re able to do that because Jesus accepted you? You don’t have to earn his acceptance; you don’t have to prove yourself to him.

We need to stop thinking, “I’ve got an unpleaseable God up there and I’ve got to be a good boy, or good girl, to be accepted.” God, through Jesus Christ, has already accepted you. That’s the good news!

The Bible teaches, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me” (Psalms 27:10 NIV). Now, the fact is, some of you had an unpleaseable parent. No matter what you did, it wasn’t good enough. For instance, if you got B’s on your report card, you had a parent who wanted A’s. If you got lots of A’s, that parent wanted straight A’s. No matter what you did, you couldn’t find acceptance.

The tragedy is that some of you even today are still trying to prove yourself to an unpleaseable parent. You’re still trying to earn that acceptance. I want to say two things to you:

1. In all likelihood, you’re not going to get it. If you haven’t gotten it by now, then you’re not likely to ever get it—and that is your parent’s problem, not yours.

2. You don’t need that acceptance to please God. You’ve been accepted by God. There are nearly 6 billion people on the planet, if some of them don’t like you, who cares? You don’t need it. You have been accepted by God!

Rick Warren

Your Service Is Desperately Needed in the Body of Christ

“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT).

One reason why you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. The Bible says, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT).

Your service is desperately needed in the body of Christ—just ask any local church. Each of us has a role to play, and every role is important. There is no small service to God; it all matters.

Likewise, there are no insignificant ministries in the church. Some are visible and some are behind the scenes, but all are valuable. Small or hidden ministries often make the biggest difference. In my home, the most important light is not the large chandelier in our dining room but the little night light that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up at night. There is no correlation between size and significance. Every ministry matters because we are all dependent on each other to function.

What happens when one part of your body fails to function? You get sick. The rest of your body suffers. Imagine if your liver decided to start living for itself: “I’m tired! I don’t want to serve the body anymore! I want a year off just to be fed. I’ve got to do what’s best for me! Let some other part take over.”

What would happen? Your body would die. Today thousands of local churches are dying because of Christians who are unwilling to serve. They sit on the sidelines as spectators, and the body suffers.
As I said when we began this study, God calls you to a service far beyond anything you could ever imagine. He created you for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for you to do (based on Ephesians 2:10 TEV). Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God.

Rick Warren

We Find Our Significance in Service

“Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body” (Romans 12:5 MSG).

You are going to give your life for something. What will it be—a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? None of these will have lasting significance. Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives. The Bible says, “Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body” (Romans 12:5 MSG).

As we serve together in God’s family, our lives take on eternal importance. Paul said, “I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less . . . because of what you are a part of” (1 Corinthians 12:14a, 19 MSG).

God wants to use you to make a difference in his world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.

If you’re not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using?

• Abraham was old,
• Jacob was insecure,
• Leah was unattractive,
• Joseph was abused,
• Moses stuttered,
• Gideon was poor,
• Samson was codependent,
• Rahab was immoral,
• David had an affair and all kinds of family problems,
• Elijah was suicidal,
• Jeremiah was depressed,
• Jonah was reluctant,
• Naomi was a widow,
• John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least,
• Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered,
• Martha worried a lot,
• The Samaritan woman had several failed marriages,
• Zacchaeus was unpopular,
• Thomas had doubts,
• Paul had poor health, and
• Timothy was timid.

That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you, too, if you stop making excuses.

Rick Warren

We Are Only Fully Alive when We’re Helping Others

Each of us will have to give a personal account to God” (Romans 14:12 NLT).

At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and he is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. The Bible says, “Each of us will have to give a personal account to God” (Romans 14:12 NLT).

Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others.

At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: “I was too busy” or “I had my own goals” or “I was preoccupied with working, having fun, or preparing for retirement.” To all excuses God will respond, “Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?”

The Bible warns unbelievers, “He will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves,” but for Christians it will mean a loss of eternal rewards (Romans 2:8 NLT).

We are only fully alive when we’re helping others. Jesus said, “If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live” (Mark 8:35 LB; see also Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Luke 9:24; 17:33).

This truth is so important that it is repeated five times in the Gospels. If you aren’t serving, you’re just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly.

Rick Warren

We Are Commanded to Serve God

“Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life” (Matthew 20:28 LB).

We are commanded to serve God. Jesus was unmistakable: “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life” (Matthew 20:28 LB).

For Christians, service is not something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came “to serve” and “to give”—and those two verbs should define your life on earth, too. Serving and giving sum up God’s fourth purpose for your life. Mother Teresa once said, “Holy living consists in doing God’s work with a smile.”

Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation.

The old comparison between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is still true. Galilee is a lake full of life because it takes in water but also gives it out. In contrast, nothing lives in the Dead Sea because, with no outflow, the lake has stagnated.

The last thing many believers need is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles.

Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we’re more interested in “serve us” than service. We say, “I’m looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” not “I’m looking for a place to serve and be a blessing.” We expect others to serve us, not vice versa.

But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, “Who’s going to meet my needs?” and starts asking, “Whose needs can I meet?” Do you ever ask that question?

Rick Warren

A Christian Who Doesn’t Serve Is a Contradiction

“Now you belong to him . . . in order that you might be useful in the service of God” (Romans 7:4 TEV).

Your call to salvation included your call to service. They are the same. Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service. A “non-serving Christian” is a contradiction in terms.

The Bible says, “He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose” (2 Timothy 1:9 TEV).

Peter adds, “You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you” (1 Peter 2:9 GWT).

You are called to serve God. Growing up, you may have thought that being called by God was something only missionaries, pastors, nuns, and other full-time church workers experienced, but the Bible says every Christians is called to service (Ephesians 4:4–14; see also Romans 1:6–7; 8:28–30; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 9, 26; 7:17; Philippians 3:14; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:3).

Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling. The Bible says, “Now you belong to him . . . in order that you might be useful in the service of God” (Romans 7:4 TEV).

How much of the time are you being useful in the service of God? In some churches in China, they welcome new believers by saying, “Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with.”

Rick Warren

We Are Not Saved by Service, but for Service

“It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan” (2 Timothy 1:9 LB).

You were saved to serve God. The Bible says, “It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan” (2 Timothy 1:9 LB).

God redeemed you so you could do his “holy work.” You’re not saved by service, but you are saved for service. In God’s kingdom, you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill. This gives your life great significance and value.

It cost Jesus his own life to purchase your salvation. The Bible reminds us, “God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God” (1 Corinthians 6:20 CEV).

We don’t serve God out of guilt or fear or even duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude for what he’s done for us. We owe him our lives. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured. In light of these incredible benefits Paul concluded, “Because of God’s great mercy . . . Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service” (Romans 12:1 TEV).

The apostle John taught that our loving service to others shows that we are truly saved. He said, “Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life” (1 John 3:14 CEV).

If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, and I’m only concerned about my needs, I should question whether Christ is really in my life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.

Rick Warren

We Are Here to Make a Contribution

“It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others” (Ephesians 2:10 LB).

God calls you to a service far beyond anything you could ever imagine. You were put on earth to make a contribution.

You weren’t created just to consume resources—to eat, breath, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life. You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back.

The Bible says, “God . . . has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 TEV). These “good deeds” are your service to the world. Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God and fulfilling one of your purposes (Colossians 3:23–24; Matthew 25:34–45; Ephesians 6:7).

What God told Jeremiah is also true for you: “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work” (Jeremiah 1:5 NCV).

When most people think of this “special work,” they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of his family is to minister. In the Bible, the words servant and minister are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you’re serving, you’re ministering.

Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t just immediately take us to heaven the moment we accept his grace? Why does he leave us in a fallen world? He leaves us here to fulfill his purposes. Once you are saved, God intends to use you for his goals. God has a ministry for you in his church and a mission for you in the world.

Is there anything holding you back from accepting God’s call to serve him?

Rick Warren

Are You Really Living the Good Life?

"God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 TEV).

A few years ago the master-planned community of Mission Viejo launched an advertising campaign to attract home buyers. They used phrases like “Mission Viejo: the California Promise” and “The Place to Live the Good Life.” Although “the Good Life” is a well-worn phrase in our culture, I wonder how many people have ever stopped to define what exactly it is.

For some people, the Good Life is confused with looking good. They are preoccupied with appearance, as if that is all that really matters in life. In the U.S. our culture idolizes beauty and puts a premium on being attractive. Advertisers capitalize on this knowing that the promise of looking good causes us to spend billions on beauty products, tanning salons, plastic surgery, fat suction, custom color coordination, and the latest styles in clothing.

For others the Good Life is confused with feeling good. Their goal is the minimization of pain and the maximization of pleasure—and they will use whatever it takes to achieve it: hot tubs; Disneyland; cocaine; virtual reality; world travel; the latest movie. The pleasure and entertainment industry is now the largest industry in the U.S. The old ‘60s phrase, “If feels good, do it,” has become the modus operandi for much of our society.

For others the Good Life is confused with having the goods. Their chief ambition is to collect all the goods and goodies of life. They make as much as they can and spend it as fast as they can. But, there’s nothing like a shaky economy to remind us that the Good Life can’t be bought!

In fact, none of these things ultimately satisfy.

• No matter what you do, you can’t stop the aging process.
• Pleasure is a byproduct of the Good Life, not the goal of it.
• The greatest things in life are not things!

So what is the Good Life? It is the personal fulfillment and joy that comes from being good and doing good. It is the result of discovering and becoming exactly what God created you to be. Nothing else will fill that void in your soul. The Bible says this: “God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 TEV).

Rick Warren

Who Was So Depressed He Asked God to Take His Life?

“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for” (Jeremiah 29:11 MSG).

Here’s a Bible trivia quiz: Can you name any of three men who became so depressed that each of them asked God to take his life?

Answer: Moses, Elijah, and Jonah.

Each of them got depressed, but for different reasons; depression is always a symptom of a deeper problem.

Like a warning light on your car, depression is meant to get your attention; it shouts something is wrong! The real problem is not how you feel, but the cause of those feelings. Here are three of the most common causes of depression.

1. Fatigue (Moses’ problem): When you try to maintain a hectic pace week after week in spite of physical and emotional exhaustion, you set yourself up for depression. Or, if you try to play God, attempting to control everything and everyone around you, depression will eventually catch up with you. In Moses’ case, the solution was to learn to delegate (Numbers 11:10–17).

2. Fear (Elijah’s problem): Whenever you swallow your anxieties, your body keeps score. Instead of focusing on your depression, ask, “What is it that I’m afraid of? What’s got me worried?” Resolve the worry and your blues will vanish, if that’s the cause. In Elijah’s situation, the antidote was to trust God to handle things out of his control (1 Kings 19:1–18).

3. Frustration (Jonah’s problem): When you don’t see a purpose behind the events of your life, when it all seems so arbitrary or hopeless or unfair, then depression strikes.

Life without meaning and significance is depressing. That’s why God’s solution to Jonah’s depression was to help him see the bigger picture. Perspective is a powerful cure. When Jonah finally understood God’s purpose for his life, his depression faded.

Does life sometimes seem like an endless rat race to you? Ask God to open your eyes and help you see his purpose for your life. God, who made you, has this to say about you: “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for” (Jeremiah 29:11 TEV).

Rick Warren

Developing Long-Term Relationships

“Some friendships do not last, but some friends are more loyal than brothers” (Proverbs 18:24 TEV).

The Bible gives us six building blocks for developing long-term relationships:

1. We must be considerate. “People want others to be loyal, so it is better to be poor than to be a liar” (Proverbs 19:22 NCV).

2. We must be confidential. “No one who gossips can be trusted with a secret, but you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy” (Proverbs 11:13 TEV).

3. We must be candid. “An honest answer is a sign of true friendship” (Proverbs 24:26 TEV).

4. We must be constructive. “People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17 TEV).

5. We must be consistent. “Friends always show their love. What are relatives for if not to share trouble?” (Proverbs 17:17 TEV).

6. We must be committed. “Some friendships do not last, but some friends are more loyal than brothers” (Proverbs 18:24 TEV).

The point is obvious: You will attract whatever you are!

Rick Warren

Excelling at What You Do

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people” (Colossians 3:23 TEV).

During the 2008 Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps gave us an extraordinary display of the pursuit of excellence. But the truth is every athlete in the Olympics pursues excellence as peak performers in their categories of competition.

The Bible identifies five characteristics of people who excel at what they do.

1. People who excel work with enthusiasm. Regardless of whether the job is big or small, give it your best. Great performers give their best effort, no matter the size of the audience: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people” (Colossians 3:23 TEV).

2. People who excel sharpen their skills. They never stop developing, growing, learning, and improving: “If your ax is dull and you don’t sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is smarter to plan ahead” (Ecclesiastes 10:10 TEV). It takes more than desire to excel, it takes skill! Remember, you’re never wasting time when you’re sharpening your “ax.”

3. People who excel keep their word. They are reliable. They can be counted on to do what they say they’ll do. So they excel because people of integrity are rare in our society: “Everyone talks about how loyal and faithful he is, but just try to find someone who really is!” (Proverbs 20:6 TEV).

4. People who excel maintain a positive attitude. Even under pressure, or change, or unrealistic demands, they don’t allow themselves to become negative: “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life . . .” (Philippians 2:14–16 NIV). And remember: “If your boss is angry at you, don’t quit! A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes” (Ecclesiastes 10:4 NLT).

5. People who excel do more than is expected. This is a secret that every successful person has discovered. You’ll never excel by only doing what is required. Jesus said, “If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously” (Matthew 5:40–42 MSG).

The Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein once told the story of seeing the top of the Statue of Liberty from a helicopter. He was impressed because of the incredible detail the artist had sculpted on an area that no one was expected to see. In fact, the Statue of Liberty was completed with no idea that man would someday be able to fly over the statue!

When you’re tempted to cut corners, thinking, “No one will ever know,” remember God is looking down and sees everything you do. Give him your best this week!

Rick Warren

Building on Your Strengths

“The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him” (Romans 12:3 MSG).

Long before words like empowerment became popular, business writer Peter Drucker was telling us that the secret of achieving results is to focus on your strengths and the strengths of those you work with, rather than focusing on weaknesses.

The truth is all of us are a bundle of both strengths and weaknesses. No one is strong in every area. If you closely watch anyone with outstanding strengths, you’ll eventually notice that they also exhibit outstanding weaknesses.

I think God planned each of us this way. No one is good at everything, so we need each other and are forced to cooperate. The Bible says this:

“In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t. If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else” (Romans 12:4–6 MSG).

Here’s the point: Find out what God made you to do well and do more of it. Don’t worry about what you don’t do well. In fact, try to do as little as possible of what you don’t do well.

Rick Warren

Being Positive in Spite of Your Problems

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way” (James 1:2–4 MSG).

So you think you’ve got problems? Consider Brian Hise:

He had more than his share of bad luck a few years ago in July. When his apartment in Provo, Utah, became flooded from a broken pipe in the apartment above his, the manager told him to go out and rent a wet/dry vacuum.

That’s when Brian discovered that his car had a flat tire. He changed the tire and went inside again to phone a friend for help. But the electric shock he got from the phone so startled him that he inadvertently ripped the instrument off the wall! Before he could leave his apartment a second time, a neighbor had to kick his door down because by now water damage had jammed it too tight to open.

While all this was going on, someone stole Brian’s car! But since it was almost out of gas, Brian found it just a few blocks away. He then had to push it to a gas station where he filled up the tank.

That evening Brian attended a military ceremony at the university he was attending. He injured himself severely when he somehow sat on his bayonet, which had been tossed in the front seat of his car!

Doctors were able to stitch up Brian’s wound but, in the meantime, no one was able to resuscitate four of his canaries who were crushed to death from the wet, falling plaster in his apartment. He discovered their deaths after arriving home and then slipping on the wet carpet in his apartment, badly injuring his tailbone.

Brian said he began to wonder if (and I quote), “God wanted me dead, but just kept missing!”

The Bible says, “Is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete” (James 1:2–4 LB).

Rick Warren

Thriving on Chaos

“Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better (Ephesians 4:23 LB).

Things change unpredictably today. There is no pattern to many of the changes in our world. Forecasting and long-range planning are high-risk activities now. Today we cannot guarantee more of the same of anything. About the only prediction we can safely assume is that things will change!

In this “Age of Unreason,” to use Charles Handy’s term, we must learn to think upside-down, inside-out, and backwards in order to cope with this unpredictable environment. The business writer Tom Peters calls this ability: “Thriving on Chaos.” To succeed, you must do more than cope with change, you must capitalize on it! Every change is an opportunity in disguise. Since you can’t stop change, you must learn to take advantage of it. Here are three suggestions from the Bible.

1. Keep a positive attitude toward change. Although not all changes are good, we do have the freedom to choose our attitude. Change, even when it is negative, can be an ally if you take advantage of it and use it for good: “Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better” (Ephesians 4:23 LB).

2. Never stop learning. Never think you know it all. Stay humble and you’ll be surprised who you can learn from—friends, neighbors, kids, employees, clients, and business competitors, etc. “The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them” (Proverbs 18:15 LB).

3. Stay flexible! Before glass bottles were invented, wine was kept in canteens made of animal skins. As they aged, they’d become brittle and crack from new wine that was still fermenting. Jesus once said, “You can’t put new wine in old wineskins” (Luke 5:37–39). Here was his point: When faced with change, we must adjust or we’ll explode!

Pray this: “Dear God, help me be more flexible this week.

Rick Warren

Success Is Living Your Values

“We should choose to follow what is right. But first of all we must define among ourselves what is good” (Job 34:4 LB).

Everything you do is influenced by your values. Your actions in life are largely determined by the values you hold. Every time you make a decision, you’re relying on your values to tell you what to do.

Unfortunately, some of the values you operate by are counterproductive to your success and a hindrance to your satisfaction in life. You see, many of the unconscious values you live by are ones you didn’t choose; they were imposed on you by parents, peers, and the culture around you. (Today television is the #1 values shaper in our society.) You may be operating on incorrect information and values that don’t stand up under pressure.

Just like the set of the sail determines the direction of a sailboat, your values chart the course for your life. The question is: In what direction are your values leading you? Are they going to deliver what you hope or will you eventually be disappointed?

Here’s another fact about values: they cause a lot of your stress! Stress occurs when what you say you believe and what you actually do don’t line up. For instance:

• When you say, “My family is important to me,” but you’re always too busy or too tired to enjoy them.

• When you say, “I value my health,” but you overwork, overeat, and never exercise.

• When you say, “I’m not materialistic,” but you become so in debt you must worry constantly about finances.

When two of your values conflict, that’s called a dilemma. My experience is that these incongruent values are the #1 cause of emotional tension among believers. What’s the solution?

Identify what is really important in life. “We can choose the sounds we want to listen to; we can choose the taste we want in food, and we should choose to follow what is right. But first of all we must define among ourselves what is good” (Job 34:3–4 LB).

You need to come up with a personal definition of success, not someone else’s definition but your own. Remember this: “Success is the feeling I get when I live out my values.” It’s not a destination. You can be successful at any stage of your life, based on your own personal values and goals. Begin by making a list of what you value most in life. Ask yourself “What is going to last?”

Begin eliminating those things that really aren’t important. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2 NLT).

Rick Warren

Legacy to the Next Generation: Correction

“Discipline your children while they are young enough to learn. If you don’t, you are helping them destroy themselves” (Proverbs 19:18 TEV).

The gift of your correction: A fourth factor in leaving a great legacy includes offering correction when your children make mistakes. This responsibility of parenting often causes major disagreements in marriage, because no two people see everything alike. In any moment, one spouse will likely be a tougher disciplinarian than the other.

Sometimes it depends on the circumstances, sometimes it depends on which child it is, sometimes it depends which spouse has been offended most. But you must not allow your disagreement to become ambivalence or your children will rule the roost, and that makes them feel insecure.

Kay and I have often disagreed about this. When we do, we’ve learned to step aside privately, work out our disagreement, and decide which one of us is best prepared emotionally to handle the situation. Then we present a united front to the kids.

Whenever we’ve failed to follow this simple rule, it has hurt everyone.

The two most important corrective words you must teach your children early in life are “come” and “no.” Kids who never learn to respect and respond to authority will struggle their entire lives. Nobody gets their way all the time. If you don’t set clear limits for your children now, they’ll never understand the concept later in life, and they will have great difficulty in relationships—in their own families, with co-workers, and even with God.

Solomon wrote, “Discipline your children while they are young enough to learn. If you don’t, you are helping them destroy themselves” (Proverbs 19:18 TEV). Nothing destroys a legacy like a lack of discipline.

Will you have any influence on the next generation? When you die, your legacy should be far more than just what you did on Earth. Your legacy should include what others do after you’re gone.

Rick Warren

Legacy to the Next Generation: Guidance

“Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life” (Proverbs 22:6 TEV).

The gift of your guidance: God could have made children completely self-sufficient when they left their mother’s womb, but he didn’t. They need us.

Children desperately need adults for guidance. They need direction and assistance from those of us who have already walked down the road. The Bible says, “Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life” (Proverbs 22:6 TEV).

If you hiked through the Swiss Alps, it would be far easier, less dangerous, and more fulfilling to have an experienced guide lead you. He would show you features that you would normally miss and he would warn you about difficult parts of your journey. That’s what every kid needs.

Children also need to learn from your mistakes and your past pain. They can learn from their own experiences, but they can also avoid a lot of unnecessary pain by learning from your experiences. It’s wiser and faster to learn from the experiences of others. God never wants you to waste your mistakes and hurts. He wants you to use them to help others. When you see others go down a path you personally know is a dead end, speak up! It’s the loving thing to do.

Even if you’re not a parent, kids need you in their lives, and you need them! Kids teach us to think of others and be less self-centered. You will teach them, but they will also teach you in many ways. For instance, you can teach them self-control and they can teach you spontaneity and creativity. Right now, are there any children in your life that you are helping?

Rick Warren

Legacy to the Next Generation: Acceptance

“Then he said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest’” (Luke 9:48 NLT).

Over the years, I’ve noticed four common gifts we need to give to the next generation: Our presence, our acceptance, our guidance and our correction.

The gift of your acceptance: Everyone craves acceptance. It seems we never get enough. When you give your children the opportunity to be themselves and to become what God—not you—wants them to be, you give them a great legacy. The welcoming environment of acceptance is the atmosphere in which kids bloom. Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a little child, welcomes me” (Luke 9:48 NLT).

Even though they’re your children, acceptance is never automatic. You must be intentional in offering it and continual in showing it. One of the most important times is when a child does something that embarrasses you publicly. At that moment, you have a choice: Will I care more about how others see me or about the feelings of my child? We’ve all seen embarrassed parents in stores use angry, derogatory words with kids who didn’t realize what they were doing.

An often-quoted research study noted that the single greatest factor determining whether a child succeeds in life or messes up is the presence and acceptance of a caring adult in his or her life. The amazing discovery was that it doesn’t have to be a parent! It just has to be someone who offers love, acceptance, and godly guidance.

Rick Warren

Legacy to the Next Generation: Presence

“Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15 TEV).

Every parent longs to leave a positive legacy in their children, but what does it take? Having dealt with thousands of families over the years, I’ve noticed four common gifts we need to give to the next generation: Our presence, our acceptance, our guidance and our correction.

The gift of your presence: Sometimes just being there is what matter most to your kids.

One day, my daughter came home crushed after not making the color guard in eighth grade. To make matters worse, all of her friends had made it. Sobbing, Amy went and sat on the floor of her walk-in closet.

But one by one, each member of our family entered her room and crawled into the closet just to sit on the floor with her in silence and cry with her. None of us tried to talk her out of her grief. We didn’t minimize her pain. We didn’t change the subject. We didn’t try to get her to look at the bright side of what had happened. We didn’t urge her to try harder next time. We just sat there and hurt with her.

Jesus said we should, “Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15 TEV). That is the essence of empathy; it is the gift of presence.

In the Bible, when disaster and tragedy completely wiped out Job’s family, three of his friends came and just sat in silence with him for three days. As long as they kept their mouths shut, it was comforting to Job. But as soon as they started conjecturing the possible reasons for Job’s pain and offering advice, they got into trouble.

The Bible says, “Everyone must be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19 TEV).

Just as brick homes are built one brick at a time, the lives of our children are built with the bricks of presence, acceptance, guidance, and correction. Every time you give a child one of these gifts, you are building his or her life. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the gift of acceptance.

Rick Warren

What Do You Expect?

"Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith will it be done to you’; and their sight was restored” (Matthew 9:29–30 NIV).

A friend of mine, Bruce, taught college in Oregon for awhile. When he began his first semester teaching there, he was told that the college placed students in English classes by their level of ability. Bruce was assigned to teach two “average ability” classes and one “advanced ability.” He really enjoyed teaching the advanced class: they seemed more alert, more fun, asked better questions, and, as expected, had a higher grade average than the other classes.

On the final day of the semester, Bruce commented on these differences to the other professors in the faculty lounge. He said he hoped to get more of the advanced classes next semester. But to his surprise, his department director said, “Bruce, I don’t know where you got your information but we phased out the average/advanced distinction a year ago. You’ve been teaching mixed classes all semester like the rest of us!”

Bruce couldn’t believe it! He checked his records, and sure enough, there were far more A’s and B’s in the class that he thought was full of smart kids. And he really had enjoyed teaching that class more. But the only real difference between the classes had been Bruce’s expectations of them.

You can set people up for success or failure by your expectations.

People tend to become what they think we expect them to be. If you communicate to the people around you that you expect them to be lazy, uncreative, and negative, that’s probably how they will respond to you. On the other hand, if you treat people like winners, they’re likely to become winners. Psychologists call it “The Pygmalion Effect.”

• The best salesmen expect customers to buy their product.
• The best executives expect employees to have creative ideas.
• The best speakers expect audiences to be interested.
• The best leaders expect people to want to follow.
• The best teachers expect students to learn.

Would you like to bring out the best in those around you? Here's the key: Treat them the way they could be! Don’t just “tell it like it is.” Tell it like it could be.

Jesus said, “According to your faith it will be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV). What are you expecting this week from yourself . . . from others . . . from God?

Rick Warren

Barriers to Knowing God's Will

Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do” (Ephesians 5:17 NLT).

Every day I talk to people who say, “If there is a God . . . and he allowed me to be born . . . and I’m still alive . . . what is his plan for me?”

“Why am I here and what am I supposed to be doing? How do I find out God’s will for me so I don’t waste my life?”

The Bible says this: “So be careful how you live. Don't live like ignorant people, but like wise people. Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days. Don’t be fools, then, but try to find out what the Lord wants you to do” (Ephesians 5:15–17 TEV).

It’s wise to figure out why you were put on earth. It’s stupid to go through life without a clue. Fortunately, God doesn’t play games with us. He wants us to understand his will for our lives. When we look toward the wrong things, we create barriers to discovering God’s will. For instance:

• God’s will is not about a feeling. God’s plan for your life is not an emotional sensation you get through some esoteric experience. God’s plan for your life is practical, not mystical. Some people think you have to sit in a lotus position and chant “om” to make contact with God. But it isn’t that complicated. Besides, feelings are highly unreliable. They come from a variety of sources, including that bad burrito you ate last night.

• God’s will is not about a formula. God’s will is not some step-by-step procedure that you rigidly follow through life. While the mystics among us are always looking for a feeling, the pragmatists look for a formula, a recipe for life that they can follow without thinking. They love books like 27 Easy Steps to a Perfect Life. The problem is every book has a different formula and they often contradict each other. Life just isn’t that simple! You need more than a formula.

Here’s the key: God’s will for your life begins with a friendship. God is far more interested in having you establish a relationship with him than he is interested in having you follow a set of rules.

First and foremost, God wants you to get to know him, like he already knows you. Once this relationship is established everything else—career, family, goals, recreation, ambitions, finances, health and friendships—will begin to fall into their proper place.

Regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you are not an accident. God does have a plan for you life and he wants you to not only know it, but to succeed at it!

Rick Warren

Your Real Life Is Not About What You Own

“Your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be” (Luke 12:15 TEV).

The Bible has a lot of great advice on money management. Over half of Jesus’ parables deal with handling material possessions. In fact, Jesus spoke more about money than He did about either heaven or hell.

There are two common myths about money:

Myth #1: Money is evil. Actually money is neither good nor bad. It’s neutral. What the Bible actually says is “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10 NIV).

Here’s the point: we are to use things and love people. When we get that reversed we get ourselves into trouble. If we love things, we will end up using people. God says people are always more important than possessions.

Myth #2: Money is the key to happiness. Obviously, that isn't true either. If money guaranteed happiness then those with the most would be the most happy. All you have to do is read the newspaper to explode that idea. Jesus said, “A man’s real life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be” (Luke 12:15 PH/TEV).

Think about this: “It is better—much better—to have wisdom and knowledge than gold and silver” (Proverbs 16:16 TEV).

Rick Warren