Цитаты из книги The Purpose Driven Life

We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.

Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent. While your offender has probably forgotten the offense and gone on with life, you continue to stew in your pain, perpetuating the past. Listen: those who hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. Your past is past! Nothing will change it. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness. For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go.

Trusting God completely means having faith that He knows what is best for your life. You expect Him to keep His promises, help you with problems, and do the impossible when necessary.

Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others.

Other people are going to find healing in your wounds. Your greatest life messages and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts.

God intentionally allows you to go through painful experiences to equip you for ministry to others.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others.

If not to God, you will surrender to the opinions or expectations of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, or to your own pride, lusts, or ego. You were designed to worship God and if you fail to worship Him, you will create other things (idols) to give your life to. You are free to choose, what you surrender to but you are not free from the consequence of that choice.

You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.

Why is this happening to me? Why am I having such a difficult time? One answer is that life is supposed to be difficult! It’s what enables us to grow. Remember, earth is not heaven!.

The only really happy people are those who have learned how to serve.

If you want God to bless you and use you greatly, you must be willing to walk with a limp the rest of your life, because God uses weak people.

If you have felt hopeless, hold on! Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose.

A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.

We’re not completely happy here because we’re not supposed to be! Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better.

Life is a gift... Life is a test... Life is temporary assignment....

Because God is with you all the time, no place is any closer to God than the place where you are right now.

Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others. Humble people are so focused on serving others, they don't think of themselves.

If you are a member of a small group or class, I urge you to make a group covenant that includes the nine characteristics of biblical fellowship: We will share our true feelings (authenticity), forgive each other (mercy), speak the truth in love (honesty), admit our weaknesses (humility), respect our differences (courtesy), not gossip (confidentiality), and make group a priority (frequency).

Your value is not determined by your valuables, and God says the most valuable things in life are not things!.

Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.

Frankness is not a license to say anything you want, wherever and whenever you want. It is not rudeness.

You also know you’re surrendered when you don’t react to criticism and rush to defend yourself. Surrendered hearts show up best in relationships. You don’t edge others out, you don’t demand your rights, and you aren’t self-serving when you’re surrendered.

Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test... You will be tested by major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies.

Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.

The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point—ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose.

The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it – that’s how we learn.

Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions.

God is always more interested in why we do something than in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements.

The more God gives you, the more responsible he expects you to be.

Pretentiousness repels but authenticity attracts, and vulnerability is the pathway to intimacy.

It is a fatal mistake to assume that God’s goal for your life is material prosperity or popular success, as the world defines it. The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success in a career or even ministry. Never focus on temporary crowns.

As long as you do things for God, you are a Hall of Famer in heaven's list.

Then Jesus changed the situation. When he paid for our sins on the cross, the veil in the temple that symbolized our separation from God was split from top to bottom, indicating that direct access to God was once again available.

The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.

When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.

Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren't rubbed in but rubbed out. Fellowship happens when mercy wins over justice.

The key to friendship with God, he said, is not changing what you do, but changing your attitude toward what you do.

While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others.

Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day.

We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven.

When God wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight, but when He wants to make a giant oak, He takes a hundred years. Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. Be patient with the process.

You discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Nothing shapes your life more than the commitments you choose to make.

God never does anything accidentally...

Maturity is produced through relationships and community.

Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it.

There's a Grand Designer behind everything. Your life is not a result of random chance, fate, or luck. There is a master plan. History is His story. God is pulling the strings.

Hiding your hurt only intensifies it. Problems grow in the dark and become bigger and bigger, but when exposed to the light of truth, they shrink. You are only as sick as your secrets. So take off your mask, stop pretending you’re perfect, and walk into freedom.

You must begin with God.

Your wisest moments will be those when you say yes to God.

We're not completely happy here because we're not supposed to be!.

You didn't create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for.

When you think about a problem over and over in your mind, that’s called worry. When you think about God’s Word over and over in your mind, that’s meditation. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate!.

The New testament commanded to love each other, pray for each other, encourage each other, admonish each other, greet each other, serve each other, teach each other, accept each other, honor each other, bear each other's burdens, forgive each other, submit to each other, be devoted each other, and many other mutual tasks. This is biblical membership!.

In Eden, worship was not an event to attend, but a perpetual attitude.

Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins.

Listen: Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. Your past is past! Nothing will change it. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness. For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go.

You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldn’t know it’s purpose, and the invention itself wouldn’t be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner’s manual could reveal it’s purpose.

If you don’t know how to be happy with what you have, you will never be happy with more.