Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book

Hot Search

The Purpose-Driven Life

rick warren

... Show More
Adorable mini edition of the New York Times Best-Seller The Purpose-Drive® Life by Rick Warren.

null pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,2002
Literary awards
ecpa christian book award, 

This edition

Format
null pages, Hardcover
Published
January 1, 2002 by Inspirio
ISBN
9780310806356
ASIN
0310806356
Language
English

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for rick warren

rick warren

... Show More

Readers also enjoyed

Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
33(33%)
4 stars
27(27%)
3 stars
40(40%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
_neverknowsbest
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
... Show More
Personally, this was much more than a book that I've mark off as read, even though finishing another always feels like a grand achievement. Rather, it defines to term "spiritual journey," and I feel incredibly thankful for this buddy read; for my lovely wife, Tanya, for lending me her copy; and to Rick Warren for writing it. Most of all, I'll forever be grateful to God, for setting ALL of it into motion, so that millions around the world may reap the benefits.

I'm proud of myself for completing this journey. Some of the lessons certainly weren't easy to face (nor should they be,) because they were questions I'd been running away from for a very long time; years, actually. However, the road ahead, knowing what I know about the Christian lifestyle, is quite daunting and though I believe in my heart and mind that God never gives us more than we can handle (as long as we lean on Him and let Him intervene,) I'm not so sure I'm up the tasks ahead.

I'm scared of continually screwing up, and ashamed for running from God all these years. He must be really disappointed in me. That's how I feel. I am sad, my heart is heavy with regret and shame. I feel like crying, but the tears rarely come any more. It's like I'm tapped out.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
_yz
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
... Show More
EDIT (2021): Wrote this back in 09', at the peak of my goofy and hyperbolic New Atheist phase.

This is a disgusting book. The goal of this book is to make you a slave. Don't take my word for it I'll just read straight from the book: "Worship isn't for you. It's for God p.66, God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly, You have no right to argue with your Creator. You are merely a clay pot shaped by a potter p.75 " Or the chapters titles "Thinking like a Servant " and "How Real Servants Act".

For me, the most revolting thing about the book came on p.80 and this theme was repeated throughout the book "Surrendered people obey God's word even if it doesn't make sense." A few sentences before that Warren says "God would not waste the mind he gave you. God doesn't want a lot of mindless robots following him." Anyone who doesn't see the clear contradiction between those two sentences is a fool. And Warren put them on the same page.

Warren says it over and over and over again, the purpose of life isn't to learn, or to teach or even to just enjoy life, but to OBEY God. It doesn't matter what your own thoughts are or what you think of yourself, it only matters what the Great Self Appointed Tyrant in the Sky thinks of you and your life. According to this book, your only goal in life is to be forever groveling and praising this God and doing your damnedest to get others to do likewise.

There are some decent lessons in the book but all of them are corrupted by the awful dogma of Warren and his twisted theology. The book is designed to get around your intellect, it even says at some points that thinking and doubting are bad things, and go straight for your weakness and insecurities with an open attempt to try and convince you that you and everything you value are worthless without the Dictator's permission. Only a fool, only someone who WANTS TO BE A SLAVE would get anything out of this book.

0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Tini03
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
... Show More
On one hand, Rick Warren comes across as wanting to be someone who brings people together. On the other, he is the pastor of one of the largest right-wing mega-churches in the country. In this book, he brings the softer side to bear, urging people to find their place in God's plan.

I guess that I am on the wrong side of the political spectrum to endorse this book, even though I am an active member of a church. The only reason I read this book was because it figured in a trial I was working on. I think that Warren is a likable guy, but his brand of Christianity is not for me.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
anxnym
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
... Show More
Rick Warren's books are read as part of small groups in churches of almost every denomination. I'm glad this book seems to have positively affected so many people, but to me, it seemed somewhat typical of the simplified, talk-down-to-you, kill-the-mystery, commercialized Christian devotional. I'm still waiting for the Purpose Driven board game and the Purpose Driven action figures.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Simonian
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
... Show More
We read this in a weekly meeting at church and I was impressed with this book's simple wisdom. One can read the words easily, but taking them to heart is a different matter.
I can recall reading a handful of books in my life, only a few which were theological in nature, where I got to a certain point and I had to stop, simply because I couldn't go any farther: I could not get my head...or heart... around such a concept as was being presented and I felt that pushing through or on would have been a waste of time. I still feeel that way about really good books.
The first time I read this book, I pushed through without bringing myself to some of those hard decisions, things which would change the way I did things, should I do them. In a sense I had to push onward: there wasn't any time to stop and tell myself that I was unwilling to do something important for my relationship with God. This time I am not stopping and that makes it all the more beautiful.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
papandau5566
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
... Show More
This book teaches its reader God's five purposes for his or her life on earth: He makes you a member of His family, a model of His character, a magnifier of His glory, a minister of His grace, and a messenger of His Good News to others.

Among those five purposes, at this stage in my life, the only engaging read for me was the first one. There was nothing new about it really as I basically studied at several Catholic universities during my younger years. However, there were some bible passages and pointers that Warren reminded me of and the book had the usual positive impact to me so I still liked it. It's just that pages after pages of it sounded like some of the religion teachers that I had in the past. Maybe when I am in the twilight years, I will read this book again and its the impact will be greater than it has on me now.

There are also many quotable quotes that were able to inspire me there past few weeks. The book is designed to be read one chapter a day for the reader to "digest" and ponder the point that the chapter wants to convey. I recently had a couple of misunderstandings with someone close to me and this book became my companion in threshing out what could be done to fix things. Warren actually helped me in seeing things at that someone's points of view so saying sorry, forgetting and granting forgiveness were not really that difficult.

We have three copies of this book at home. The first was a Christmas gift from an office mate. The second was a retirement gift to my wife by another office mate. The third was the book my daughter bought for herself. I am not sure which one I read but since this book was first published in 2002, it has sold 25 million copies worldwide. I was in a bookstore last week and the latest copy proudly bears 30 million mark. Why did I not read this right away say when we received the first copy of the book at home? I dunno. Just browsing the book gave me then an impression that it was saccharine sweet and was unrealistically all positive that means falsely deceptive.

That impression is not true. The book is realistic and Warren presents the challenges that every Christian should work for. From the first declaration of "this is not about you" to "living with purpose is the only way to really live," the book is peppered with heartfelt applications of bible passages as Warren presents the five purposes that I mentioned above. My eyes did not get blurred not my heart pounded with sadness or inspiration but I felt that my spirit flew and soured while reading some of its pages.

A dear friend mentioned that the youngest child of Warren committed suicide this year, April 5, 2013 after struggling with mental illness that caused severe depression. In my life, I've seen several similar cases like this: a successful parent losing a child possibly because the celebrity parent got too focused with fame and in the process neglected his o her own family. But I do not know Warren's complete story so I'd rather keep my comments to myself.

At some point in your life you should read this book.
0 0 Reply
Leave a Review
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.