Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

Quotes – Purpose

“Having a purpose is the difference between  making a living and making a life.”

 -- Tom Thiss

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”

Robert Byrne

“Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't.”

Richard Bach

“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”

William James

“You are what your deep driving desire is; As your deep driving desire is, so is your will; As your will is so is your deed; As your deed is so is your destiny.”

The Upanishads

Quotes-Lack of Purpose

“I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here, and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, but if I can't figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don't have to know an answer... I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me.”

Richard P. Feynman (who is he trying to convince of not being frightened, himself?)

“My life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot.”

Ashleigh Brilliant

“I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it.”

Jack Handey

“Life is half spent before we know what it is.”

George Herbert

“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”

W. M. Lewis

“A man with a half volition goes backwards and forwards, and makes no way on the smoothest road; a man with a whole volition advances on the roughest, and will reach his purpose, if there be even a little worthiness in it. The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.”

Thomas Carlyle

“More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent.”

Billy Sunday

“Preparation for old age should begin not later than one's teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.”

Dwight L. Moody

A Testimony of Purpose
(Actual testimony given at Saddleback Church, September 22, 1996)

            Hi everybody. My name is John and I’d like to share how my search for a purpose in life led me to a number of dead ends, and produced a lot of frustration and hurt until I turned to God’s purpose for my life.

            Unlike many people, my search for a life purpose began with the church. I was raised in a good Christian home and we went to church every week. As a child, many adults in my church predicted I would take over for Billy Graham when he retired!

            But as I grew older I turned away from having a relationship with God to performing a religion for God. I set out to be the one person in the world who would never let God down. Trying to do everything by the book, I married a good Christian girl from a good Christian home and entered a theological Seminary. But  God  became nothing more than an intellectual exercise. I knew ABOUT him but I didn’t KNOW Him. I graduated from seminary with a Masters Degree and a 3.8 GPA but also with a major case of clinical depression. Entering therapy, I discovered that much of my demand for perfection could be attributed to an over-active inner parent. My image of God was that he was unpleasable.

            After failing to find peace and purpose in intellectual religion, I turned next to the business world with the same level of intensity. I quickly earned the adulation of my company and celebrated my first year of success on the French Riviera. I remember standing on a beautiful wood deck the night of the awards banquet, overlooking the Mediterranean and thinking: "Man, have I arrived or what?"  I was New account Salesman of the Year for my region, I had money rolling in, and my peers were telling me I was on my way to the good times. I thought: "This is what life is all about!"  I felt I could never get God to give me a standing ovation, but now people were doing just that. What more did I need?

            But that feeling of success and accomplishment faded quickly and I began to look to an illicit affair to fill the hole in my heart. Riding high in 1984 with plenty of money, a beautiful home in Anaheim Hills and surrounded by women who were openly available, I began to commit adultery after nine years of marriage. In spite of all my material success, I was still coming up empty. I had no real purpose for living. But true to form, I found excuses for everything. My lousy excuse for being unfaithful to my wife was because she was not "attractive" enough. I also created excuses to justify my divorce.

            Next in my search for purpose, I tried partying and pleasure. I found a gorgeous girlfriend who looked good on my arm and went into party mode. Alcohol and cocaine were the order of the day. So what if I had to declare bankruptcy! That was my ex's fault for taking me to the cleaners. Excuses and alcohol always gave me a way to deny the pain and deny what I had become: totally self-centered and egotistical.

            In spite of all the hurt and the heartache I caused in her life, that gorgeous girlfriend became my wife and is to this day. In 1993, our daughter was born. My little girl made me start to realize that I was not the center of the universe. I thought: at least my family should give me my purpose for living! But I still continued to drink and act like an irresponsible adolescent.

            Finally, in early 94, my wife told me enough was enough. That was my wake-up call. I knew I had to get my life together or I was going to lose both of them. I stopped going to bars, but I continued to drink at home. Drinking allowed me to pass out every night and perpetuate the denial of my emptiness.

            Looking back now, in spite of my reluctance to turn to God for my purpose, God remained faithful to me. He was waiting for me to come home. At my wife's urging, we started coming to Saddleback in March of this year, just six months ago. Every Sunday, always nursing a hangover, the music would move me to tears (and it wasn't because of the throbbing headache!). Pastor Rick would touch my heart with observation from the Bible about God's love and forgiveness. In all my attending church and seminary- I’d never really grasped the truth that I MATTERED TO GOD.

            One Sunday, a man named Doug was standing in this very spot sharing his story with the church. Like me, he was a functional alcoholic. His story, and the ministry of this church, made me start to hope again that a relationship with a God of love could give my life some real purpose.

            June 11th, 1996 was my first day of sobriety. I came to Saddleback’s Celebrate Recovery meeting with a feeling that there was no place else to go. What I found was a bunch of men that had nothing but love in their hearts. On Day Eight of my recovery, I wrote this in my journal:  "I am still searching for a God that I know is there. Perhaps my God is too small, perhaps He is not there. I fervently hope that is not true because I have no where else to go.”  I’d tried everything else.

            I knew my drinking was just a symptom of my real problem. I was in a life and death search for the God who could make sense out of my life. Then on June 26th, Pastor John shared a Bible verse that finally cut through all of my denial. It was Psalms 46:10:  "Be still and know that I am God!" I knew God was saying to me: "Stop trying to maintain the facade and stop making excuses for your life. This is why I died for you. Be still, relax and accept My gift of freedom."

            I finally came home to my Abba, my Daddy in heaven. I finally began to understand that God's purpose for my life all along was to simply have a relationship with Him. I was made to be loved by God. On July 21^st, my wife and I decided to join this Saddleback family. The next Sunday, we were baptized together. I want to say that when we were baptized my wife has never looked more radiant in all of her life! It was such a happy day. The following day, we dedicated our little girl to God.