The Purpose Driven Life
What on Earth Am I Here For?
By Rick Warren
I should start
this review by pointing out that I never read the original “Purpose Driven Life”
put out 10 years ago by Rick Warren, but I do know that its ridiculously
popular and that I always meant to get around to reading it. And now that its been
republished and updated, I can say that I’m glad that I did!
The Purpose
Driven Life is a 40-day read but I would not call it a “devotional”. Warren
intends for the reader to embark on (and commit to) a 40-day journey of
intentionally exploring what the reason is for their existence in this world.
It starts with the truth about who God is and what he wants and moves to more
specifics about our life.
The basic
outline of the 40 days is divided between these basic premises:
- We were planned for God's pleasure
- so your first purpose is to offer real worship.
- We were formed for God's family
- so your second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.
- We were created to become like Christ,
- so your third purpose is to learn real discipleship.
- We were shaped for serving God
- so your fourth purpose is to practice real ministry.
- We were made for a mission
- so your fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism.
And the daily reading
explores the issues within each premise.
Unfortunately I
wasn’t given 40 days to review this book but I can say that I have been changed
even by what I have made it through so far. Even though Warren’s premises are
simple enough to digest, the way they are set out really capture my desire for
meaning and purpose in life and help me to understand the bigger picture of
what God has intended me for in the grand scheme of the world.
There are some
new features to the updated version of the book that deserve mention. At the
beginning of each chapter is one of those scan squares that you can point your
smartphone to and it will take you to a website dedicated to that day in the
book (or you can just type in the URL if you don’t have a smartphone or scan
reader). Each day’s website has a video introduction by Warren and then a 40
minute audio message that is supposed to expand upon the message. I think this
is a great idea in theory, but really, I don’t have time for a 40 minute
message every evening/morning… so I actually got stalled in my 40 day journey
because I wanted to hear each audio message, which meant I couldn’t go on to
day 3 when day 3 came around because I still hadn’t had time to listen to the
message from day 2 (and so on). I’m still not sure how I’m going to deal with
that. I’ll probably just keep going through the days and just save the audio
messages for after the 40 day reading experience.
I am really
enjoying the 10th anniversary edition of Purpose Driven Life. I
think I may give away copies of it this Christmas.
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