人生的目的

以下這篇文章是標杆人生的作者Rick Warren 不久前的一篇受訪記錄。有些觀點，值得深思。
 

人們問我：什麼是人生的目的？我的回答是：簡單來說，人生是為永恆預備的。我們受造不是為了長命百歲，而是照神所期盼的，和祂在天堂同在一起。

有一天，我的心跳會停止，這便是我軀體的終了－－但並非我生命的結束。我可能會在世上活個六十到一百歲，但我將要在永恆裡度過幾萬億年的時間。

人生只是個暖身、彩排罷了。神希望我們在地上操練的，是我們將在永恆裡要做到永遠的事情。

我們是被神造的，也是為神造的。在你明白這個以前，人生是不會有道理的。

人生是一連串的難題：不論你是否身在其中，你不是剛走出一道難關，就是正要進入另一個問題。

這是因為，神關切我們性格的塑造，勝於關切我們是否覺得舒適；神在意要使我們有聖潔的生命，勝於讓我們過得愉快。

在世上我們當然可以過得開心，但這並不是人生的目標。人生的目標是要在性格上成長，更像基督。

過去這一年，是我和我的妻子所度過最美好的一年，也是最艱難的一年。這一年，我的太太Kay得到癌症。

Rick Warren and his wife, Kay

曾經，我以為人生是充滿高山低谷－－當你度過黑暗的時期，接著就到了山頂上，然後來來回回的重覆著。但我不再相信是這樣了。

人生並非是高山和低谷的組合，我相信它比較像是鐵軌上的兩條軌道。無論何時，你的人生中總是同時會有一些好的事情和不好的事情。不管你人生中發生的事情有多麼美好，總會有些不好的事情需要去處理。而不論你人生中遇到的事情有多麼壞，也總是有些不錯的事情，是你可以向神獻上感謝的。

你可以關注你的目標，也可以關注你的問題。如果你關注在你的問題上，你就會進入自我中心，也就是：我的問題、我的困難、我的痛苦。但除去痛苦最簡單的其中一個方法就是：把你的焦點從自己身上，轉移到神和其他人的身上。

即便有成千上百的人在為我太太禱告，我們很快就發現，神並不打算醫治Kay，或讓她可以輕鬆一點。這對她來說非常辛苦，然而神在這過程中使她的性格更加強壯，使她有一個幫助別人的服事，使她成為見證，使她和神和人的關係都更加親近。人生中好的和不好的事情，你都必需學習去處理。

事實上，有時候學習去處理那些好的事情反而比較難。譬如說，過去這一年，當我的書忽然間達到一千五百萬本的銷售量，我瞬間變得非常富有。同時，這也帶給我前所未有的名聲。我並不認為神給你財富和名聲是為了你自己的緣故，或者讓你的人生過得比較順遂。

所以我開始問神希望我如何使用這些財富、名聲和影響力。祂給了我兩段經文，幫助我決定該如何做：哥林多後書9章和詩篇72篇。

首先，即便有這麼多的收入，我們的生活型態還是不會有一丁點的改變。我們也不會有高額的花費。
其次，大約去年年中開始，我不再領教會的薪水。
第三，我們設立了一些基金來資助「和平計劃」––– 一個用來建立教會、裝備領袖、幫助窮人、關懷病患，以及教育下一代的計劃。
第四，我把過去從我建立教會至今，這24年以來教會曾付給我的薪水，全數歸還。能不支薪服事主真是自由釋放！

我們必需自問：我要為財產或名聲而活嗎？我要受壓力、罪咎、物質享受的驅策而活嗎？

或者我要為主(對我人生)的旨意而活？當我早上起床，我會坐在床邊說：「神啊，就算我今天沒有完成任何事情，我希望能更認識你，並且更加愛你。」

神把我放在世上，不是只是要我去完成一些待辦事項而已。祂更關心我是一個怎麼樣的人，勝於我做了些什麼。

這正是為何，我們是稱為human beings（人），而非human doings（爲工作生存的人）。

快樂的時光，讚美神。
艱困的時刻，尋求神。
寧靜的時分，敬拜神。
痛苦的時候，信靠神。
每一個當下，感謝神。

New Insights

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having ‘wealth’ from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, ‘Purpose Driven Life ‘ author and pastor of Saddleback  Church in  California.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
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 harder. 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..

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.

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.

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 back. 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.