Rick Warren’s The Purpose of Christmas

Jesus offers you The Peace of God

 

Rick Warren is famous in Christian circles for his books The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church. His notoriety has increased greatly because he was asked to offer the invocation at President Obama's inauguration, much to the delight of the gay community. Someone told me once that a book was worth reading if you found one gem in it. Following is the gem I found in Rick Warren's The Purpose of Christmas.

Rick Warren writes:

"Once you make peace with God, you'll begin to experience the peace of God in your heart and in your mind. The more you pray, the less you'll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You'll feel more patient and less pressured. The Bible promise, 'You, Lord, give true peace to those wo depend on you, because they trust you."

"What robs you of your peace? Most of the culprits fall into one of three categories: uncontrollable circumstances (like illnesses, deaths, and layoffs), unchangeable people (who refuse to cooperate with your plan to change them), and unexplainable problems (when life seems unfair). People respond to these peace robbers in one of three ways: They try harder to control everything, but they're guaranteed to fail at that. They simply give up with a fatalistic attitude, feeling controlled by their circumstances. Or they gain true peace of mind by responding to situations the way Jesus did and depending on his Spirit to empower them to do that.

"You've probably heard of the Serenity Prayer, which was made famous by Reinhold Niebuhr, but you may not have read the entire prayer. The first third of the prayer is often quoted and written on posters. But to experience the serenity mentioned in the first third of the prayer, you need to follow the steps laid out in the rest of the prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things

I cannot change; courage to change the things

I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; enjoying one

Moment at a time; accepting hardships as the

Pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this

Sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right

If I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably

Happy in this life and supremely

Happy with Him forever in the next."