Rick Warren's Blog, page 524

God Says You Are Valuable

God says that you���re not only accepted, you���re also valuable.

How much do you think you���re worth? I���m not talking about your net worth. I���m talking about your self-worth. Don���t ever confuse your valuables with your value as a person. You can be rich or poor, but it has nothing to do with your value as a person.

Community Is God���s Answer to Defeat

Each one of us needs other people to watch out for us ��� to defend us, protect us, and help us stay on track. In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul tells us that we should look out for each other���s interests, not just our own. What a countercultural verse! In America today, it���s all about me ��� my needs, my interests, my wants, and my ambitions. But Paul teaches us to look out for others, too.

There Is Power in Group Witness

Each of us has a life message that God wants us to share with the world. Sharing the message is part of our life���s mission. When we share that message with other people, it���s called witnessing.

There is great power in group witness. Just like a soldier is never sent out by himself, God doesn���t intend for us to do our mission alone. He says we should go out together to witness.

Working Together, We Can Accomplish More

God put us on Earth to do a certain work that only we can do. Ephesians says that God created us to do good works and that he planned in advance what we would spend our lives doing. However, he didn���t plan for us to do that work alone. We need people to work with us.

Three Reasons We Need to Walk with Others

The Bible often compares life to a walk, because life is a journey. We���re not sitting still. Throughout the New Testament, we are told to walk in wisdom, love, light, and obedience. We���re told to walk as Jesus walked. We���re also told to walk alongside other people. Here are three reasons we need to walk with other people:

How Do You Forgive?

In 1956, five American missionaries headed to the rainforest of the eastern Amazon in Equator on a second visit to the Huaorani tribe, which anthropologists said was the most vicious, violent society on the face of the earth. They had a culture of killing, and studies showed 60 percent of the tribe died by homicide.

God Says You Are Forgiven

Some of us, even though we���re believers, think whenever we���re having problems that God���s getting even with us, that God���s just trying to get back at us.

God Says You Are Accepted

Most of us spend our entire lives trying to earn acceptance. We want to earn it from our parents, peers, partners in life, people we respect, and maybe even people we envy. The drive to be accepted is a deep drive that can influence the kinds of clothes you wear, the kind of car you drive, the kind of house you buy, and even the career you choose.

You Don���t Have to Forget

You���ve heard this phrase over and over: ���Forgive and forget.��� There���s only one problem: You can���t do it. It���s impossible! You really can���t forget a hurt in your life. In fact, you can���t even try to forget it. Because when you���re trying to forget, you are actually focusing on the very thing you want to forget.

Requirements of Restored Relationship

Forgiveness is not resuming a relationship without change. In fact, forgiveness and resuming a relationship are two different things. Forgiveness is what you do as the offended person. Resuming the relationship is what the other person does in order to get back into your good graces. Saying ���I���m sorry��� is not enough. In fact, the Bible teaches three things that are essential to resume a relationship that���s been broken ��� and the offender has to do all three of these things.