Rick Warren's Blog, page 624

Love Drives Out the Fear in Your Relationships

���I hate you!���

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.

Pride Destroys, Humility Builds Up

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.

Sow Selflessness and Reap Eternal Life

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.

Raise Your Expectations of God

God works in people���s hearts when we expect him to do so.

Before each service at Saddleback Church, I pray, ���God, it would be a waste of time to go out there and talk to those people without expecting you to do something. So I���m going to thank you in advance for changing lives. I expect it to happen in faith. Not because of who I am, but because of who you are.��� That is the faith that God uses to change lives.

Make Friends to Make Disciples

Everybody���s looking for a true friend ��� not just acquaintances but people who are there with you when you need them most. God wants you to build true friendships with the people that are already in your life so that you can share the Gospel with them. God has put these people ��� your co-workers and classmates, neighbors and teammates ��� in your life specifically so you can share with them about the most important decision they will ever make. If you don���t tell them about what Christ has done for them, then who will?

Tell Others Your Great God Story

The most effective way to let other people know about the great things that God can do in their lives is to tell them the story of what God has done in your life. That is what makes a difference.

Go on Mission Together

You were made for a mission. God wants you to share his love with other people ��� your friends, family, and the people you work with ��� who are not in his family.

Why does he want you to do that? Because God wants everybody in his family. God has never made a person he didn���t love and have a purpose for. God has never made a person that Jesus Christ didn���t die for. So God wants us to share that Good News.

When You Face Trouble, Community Is Your Safety Net

When you experience suffering in life, you need people to weep with you.

There are situations that nobody should ever have to go through alone. Nobody should ever have to wait in the hospital while a loved one is in a life-and-death surgery. No woman should ever have to wait alone for the lab report on a problem pregnancy. Nobody should have to wait alone for news from a battlefield. Nobody should have to stand alone at the edge of an open grave. Nobody should have to spend the first night alone after a spouse has died or walked out.

Community: God���s Answer to Defeat

Who���s watching out for you?

You need people who will defend you, stand up for you and protect you, help you stay on track, and warn you. We all need this, because we all have blind spots.

In the Journey of Life, We Need Each Other!

The Bible says in Colossians 2:6-7, ���As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him��� (ESV). The Bible often compares life to a walk, because you don���t just sit still in life. We are on a journey! Throughout the New Testament we���re told to walk in wisdom, in love, in light, in obedience, and in the Spirit.