Rick Warren interview (Paul Bradshaw)

Here is an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren that I quoted in this evenings Bible Study:

Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and Godwants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - butnot the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions ofyears in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wantsus to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn'tgoing to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just comingout of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character thanyour comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making yourlife happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness.This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest,with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a darktime, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe thatanymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of liketwo rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good andsomething bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something badthat needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always somethinggood you can thank God for.You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,which is"my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid ofpain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousandsof people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened hercharacter, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her atestimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance,this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, itmade me instantly very wealthy.It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before.I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for youto live a life of ease.So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety andinfluence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what todo, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change ourlifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from thechurch.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan toplant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, andeducate the next generation.Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since Istarted the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able toserve God for free.We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or amI going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if Idon't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love Youbetter. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's moreinterested in what I am than what I do.That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.