The spiritual premise in The Purpose-Driven Life is that there are no accidents---God planned everything and everyone. Therefore, every human has a divine purpose, according to God's master plan. Like a twist on John F. Kennedy's famous inaugural address, this book could be summed up like this: "So my fellow Christians, ask not what God can do for your life plan, ask what your life can do for God's plan." Those who are looking for advice on finding one's calling through career choice, creative expression, or any form of self-discovery should go elsewhere. This is not about self-exploration; it is about purposeful devotion to a Christian God. The book is set up to be a 40-day immersion plan, recognizing that the Bible favors the number 40 as a "spiritually significant time," according to author Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, touted as one of the nation largest congregations. Warren's hope is that readers will "interact" with the 40 chapters, reading them one day at a time, with extensive underlining and writing in the margins. As an inspirational manifesto for creating a more worshipful, church-driven life, this book delivers. Every page is laden with references to scripture or dogma. But it does not do much to address the challenges of modern Christian living, with its competing material, professional, and financial distractions. Nonetheless, this is probably an excellent resource for devout Christians who crave a jumpstart back to worshipfulness. --Gail Hudson


From Publishers Weekly
Pastor of Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist mega-church in southern California with weekly attendance of more than 15,000, Warren now applies his highly successful "purpose-driven" framework, developed in the best-seller The Purpose-Driven Church, to individual experience. The same principles Warren has taught to thousands of pastors to help churches be healthy and effective can also drive lives, he says. The book argues that discerning and living five God-ordained purposes-worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism-is key to effective living. His 40 short chapters are intended to be read over 40 days' time, giving readers small pieces of his purpose-discovering program to chew on. Warren certainly knows his Bible. Of 800-plus footnotes, only 18 don't refer to Christian Scripture. He deliberately works with 15 different Bible translations, leaning heavily on contemporary translations and paraphrases, as an interesting way of plumbing biblical text. The almost exclusively biblical frame of reference stakes out the audience niche for this manual for Christian living. It's practical yet paradoxically abstract, lacking the kind of real-life examples and stories that life-application books usually provide in abundance. The book has flaws editing might have fixed. People are quoted without being identified, and subheads simply repeat lines of text, which tends to make the prose sound too simple. This book is not for all, but for those needing a certain kind of scriptural rock, it is solid.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Rick Warren helps readers to discover, develop, and fulfill God's purpose for their lives.


Download Description
Another Landmark Book by Rick Warren. You are not an accident. Even before the universe was created, God had you in mind, and he planned you for his purposes. These purposes will extend far beyond the few years you will spend on earth. You were made to last forever! Self-help books often suggest that you try to discover the meaning and purpose of your life by looking within yourself, but Rick Warren says that is the wrong place to start. You must begin with God, your Creator, and his reasons for creating you. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. This book will help you understand why you are alive and God's amazing plan for you-both here and now, and for eternity. Rick Warren will guide you through a personal 40-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for? Knowing God's purpose for creating you will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life, and, most importantly, prepare you for eternity. The Purpose-DrivenT Life is a blueprint for Christian living in the 21st century-a lifestyle based on God's eternal purposes, not cultural values. Using over 1,200 scriptural quotes and references, it challenges the conventional definitions of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. In the tradition of Oswald Chambers, Rick Warren offers distilled wisdom on the essence of what life is all about. This is a book of hope and challenge that you will read and re-read, and it will be a classic treasured by generations to come.


From the Back Cover
The #1 New York Times Bestseller, with over 3 million sold, now available in a large print edition The Purpose-DrivenÆ Life is a blueprint for a lifestyle based on God’s eternal purposes, not cultural values. Well-grounded in Scripture, it offers fresh insights on worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. This is a book of hope and challenge you will read and re-read.


About the Author
Dr. Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, is the author of the New York Times #1 bests The Purpose Driven Life. With over 10 million copies sold since its release in October, 2002, the book has twice received the ECPA Book of the Year Award in 2003 and 2004.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It All Starts with God
For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,... everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.
Colossians 1:16 (Msg)
Unless you assume a God, the question of life s purpose is meaningless.
Bertrand Russell, atheist
Its not about you.
The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. Its far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. Thats because we typically begin at the wrong starting pointourselves. 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 lifes purpose. The Bible says, It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyones life is in his power.
Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you wont discover your lifes meaning by looking within yourself. Youve probably tried that already. You didnt create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldnt know its purpose, and the invention itself wouldnt be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owners manual could reveal its purpose.
I once got lost in the mountains. When I stopped to ask for directions to the campsite, I was told, You cant get there from here. You must start from the other side of the mountain! In the same way, you cannot arrive at your lifes purpose by starting with a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your Creator. You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for Godand until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.
Many people try to use God for their own self-actualization, but that is a reversal of nature and is doomed to failure. You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose. The Bible says, Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.
I have read many books that suggest ways to discover the purpose of my life. All of them could be classified as self-help books because they approach the subject from a self-centered viewpoint. Self-help books, even Christian ones, usually offer the same predictable steps to finding your lifes purpose: Consider your dreams. Clarify your values. Set some goals. Figure out what you are good at. Aim high. Go for it! Be disciplined. Believe you can achieve your goals. Involve others. Never give up.
Of course, these recommendations often lead to great success. You can usually succeed in reaching a goal if you put your mind to it. But being successful and fulfilling your lifes purpose are not at all the same issue! You could reach all your personal goals, becoming a raving success by the worlds standard, and still miss the purposes for which God created you. You need more than self-help advice. The Bible says, Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. 3
This is not a self-help book. It is not about finding the right career, achieving your dreams, or planning your life. It is not about how to cram more activities into an overloaded schedule. Actually, it will teach you how to do less in lifeby focusing on what matters most. It is about becoming what God created you to be.
How, then, do you discover the purpose you were created for? You have only two options. Your first option is speculation. This is what most people choose. They conjecture, they guess, they theorize. When people say, Ive always thought life is . . . , they mean, This is the best guess I can come up with.
For thousands of years, brilliant philosophers have discussed and speculated about the meaning of life. Philosophy is an important subject and has its uses, but when it comes to determining the purpose of life, even the wisest philosophers are just guessing.
Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world, asking them, What is the meaning of life? He then published their responses in a book. Some offered their best guesses, some admitted that they just made up a purpose for life, and others were honest enough to say they were clueless. In fact, a number of famous intellectuals asked Professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life!
Fortunately, there is an alternative to speculation about the meaning and purpose of life. Its revelation. We can turn to what God has revealed about life in his Word. The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering your lifes purpose: Ask God.
God has not left us in the dark to wonder and guess. He has clearly revealed his five purposes for our lives through the Bible. It is our Owners Manual, explaining why we are alive, how life works, what to avoid, and what to expect in the future. It explains what no self-help or philosophy book could know. The Bible says, Gods wisdom . . . goes deep into the interior of his purposes. . . . Its not the latest message, but more like the oldestwhat God determined as the way to bring out his best in us. 5
God is not just the starting point of your life; he is the source of it. To discover your purpose in life you must turn to Gods Word, not the worlds wisdom. You must build your life on eternal truths, not pop psychology, success-motivation, or inspirational stories. The Bible says, Its in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. 6 This verse gives us three insights into your purpose.
1. You discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you dont have such a relationship, I will later explain how to begin one.
2. God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him. His purpose for your life predates your conception. He planned it before you existed, without your input! You may choose your career, your spouse, your hobbies, and many other parts of your life, but you dont get to choose your purpose.
3. The purpose of your life fits into a much larger, cosmic purpose that God has designed for eternity. Thats what this book is about.
Andrei Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an atheistic Communist regime. But God got his attention one dreary day. He recalls, In my twenty-seventh year, while riding the metro in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to stop at once, preempting the future entirely, let alone any meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared: Without God life makes no sense. Repeating it in astonishment, I rode the phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the metro and walked into Gods light.
You may have felt in the dark about your purpose in life. Congratulations, youre about to walk into the light.
DAY ONE
THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE
Point to Ponder: Its not about me.
Verse to Remember: Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. Colossians 1:16b (Msg)
Question to Consider: In spite of all the advertising around me, how can I remind myself that life is really about living for God, not myself?

FROM OUR EDITORS

In 40 brief chapters (each of which can read as a daily devotional), Rick Warren answers the age-old questions: Why am I here? What is my purpose? Asserting that our responses to those quandaries must start with God, he explains how we can achieve fulfillment by enacting His plan.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The #1 New York Times Bestseller, with over 3 million sold, now available in a large print edition

The Purpose-Driven Life is a blueprint for a lifestyle based on God's eternal purposes, not cultural values. Well-grounded in Scripture, it offers fresh insights on worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism.

This is a book of hope and challenge you will read and re-read.

Author Biography: Dr. Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, is the author of the New York Times #1 best-seller The Purpose Driven Life. With over 4 million copies sold since its release in October, 2002, the book received the ECPA 2003 Book of the Year Award. Warren also wrote the Gold Medallion Award-winner The Purpose-Driven Church, with over one million copies sold in 21 languages. Other books by Rick Warren include The Power to Change Your Life, Answers to Life's Difficult Questions, Planned for God's Pleasure, and Personal Bible Study Methods. Dr. Warren is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community which serves and mentors those in ministry and features Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox, a weekly email newsletter with 85,000 pastors subscribing. Rick and his wife, Kay, began Saddleback Church as a small group in their home in January 1980. The church now averages 17,000 in attendance each weekend, lists over 60,000 names on the church roll, and, through its numerous resources and Purpose-Driven Church seminars, is having a worldwide impact. The Warrens live in Trabuco Canyon, California. They have three children and a dog.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly