Rick Warren sets high example

I don't usually write about evangelicals or about anything or anyone that's religious.

But I can't resist noting a few things about Dr. Rick Warren, pastor of America's fourth largest church, Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

You may know Warren, 54, from his having hosted a political forum--featuring John McCain and Barack Obama in the heat of the 2008 presidential race.

Or you may have recently heard that he'll give the invocation (prayer) at President-elect Obama's inauguration in a few weeks.

But did you know that this amazing minister reverse tithes, meaning that he says he lives off of 10 percent of what he earns and gives 90 percent to the Lord?

Did you know that his world-wide best selling nonfiction books (more than 20 million copies sold)--"The Purpose Driven Ministry" and "The Purpose Driven Life" made him wealthy, allowing Warren to repay Saddleback Church the 24 years of salary he took in since he founded that church?

Did you know that national publications--such as Time magazine--have called him one of America's 10 or 15 most influential people?

Did you know his beloved wife Kay is dying of cancer?

Here are a few recent comments from Warren--about Kay, about suffering and pain, about happiness, about money, about faith, about eternity, about why we're called "human beings" instead of "human doings." Paul Bradshaw interviewed Warren:

"People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

"One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body but not the end of me.

"I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us 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't going to make sense.

"Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out 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 than your comfort.

"God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life 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 dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

"Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

"No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

"And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good 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 of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

"We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of 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 her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, 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 hard er. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made 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 you to live a life of ease.

"So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

"First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

"Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

"Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all bac k. It was liberating to be able to serve 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 am I 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 I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested 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."

Here's to you, Pastor Rick Warren, and for reminding us that we're human beings, not human doings.

What are we being today?

And what about yesterday and tomorrow?