Rick Warren's Blog, page 587

Get Interested in the Interests of Your Friends

The key to a friendship with God is deciding whose friendship you want most.

You don���t have time for everybody to be your friend. You���ve got to decide who you want most to be your best friend.

To Be Friends with God, You Have to Slow Down

If you want to build a deep relationship with God, you have to slow down and be quiet.

Friendship with God is like any other friendship ��� you have to make time for it. If you don���t make time for your human friends, they���re not your friends. You make time for your friends. And if God is going to be your best friend, you���ve got to give your best time to him.

You Can Be As Close to God As You Choose to Be

You���re never going to become a friend of God in your spare time. You have to make knowing God your number one priority in life.

How to Refuel Your Love Tank!

The kind of love that really makes a difference in this world requires a big effort on your part, but you���ll enjoy huge rewards.

Marriage Reveals What���s Unhealed

If you���re dating and you���re prolonging a relationship that you know is going nowhere, don���t continue it. ���But I won���t have anybody to take me out on Friday night,��� you say. A bad marriage is a million times worse than not going out on Friday night! The longer you���re in an unhealthy dating relationship, the more difficult it���s going to be to get out of it.

Emotional Health Creates Relational Wealth

If you wait for the perfect wife or the perfect husband, it isn���t going to just happen. Let me tell you why: We���re all broken. That���s OK, because God still loves you. But you need to understand that anybody you marry will be broken.

The Myths About Choosing Your Spouse

If you���re supposed to choose your friends carefully, you should be even more careful about who���s going to be your life partner. Notice it is a choice. God doesn���t do this for you. God says you make the choice.

Love Drives Out the Fear in Your Relationships

When people say that in relationships, it���s often a sign that somebody���s trying to control somebody else. What���s beneath that control? It���s fear. Insecurity causes us to try to control others or resist the control of others. When you���re so insecure that all you think about is what others think of you, it destroys your relationships and disables your life.ddddd

Pride Destroys Relationships, Humility Builds Them

Pride destroys relationships. It shows up in a lot of different ways, like criticism, competition, stubbornness, and superficiality.

The problem with pride is it���s self-deceiving. Everybody else can see it in us but us. When you have a problem with pride, you don���t see it in your life.

When You���re Selfless, You Bring Out the Best In Others

Selfishness destroys relationships. It is the number one cause of conflict, arguments, divorce, and even war.

James 4:1 says, ���What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don���t they come from your desires that battle within you?��� (NIV) Every trouble starts because of our self-centeredness.