I was looking for a book on my bookshelf this morning, and I came across something from I hadn’t read in many years, and I wanted to share a few quotes with you.

It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

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 Bible says, “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power.” (Job 12:10).

Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won’t discover your life’s meaning by looking within yourself. You’ve probably tried that already. 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 its purpose, and the invention itself wouldn’t be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner’s manual could reveal its purpose.

I once got lost in the mountains. When I stopped to ask for directions to the campsite, I was told, “You can’t get there from here. You must start from the other side of the mountain!” In the same way, you cannot arrive at your life’s purpose by starting with a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your Creator. You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for God—and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.

From there, he goes on to elaborate on a series of truths for understanding our purpose in life. I won’t quote extensively from each one, but I’ll throw a few highlights from each section:

1. You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure

God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own pleasure. You exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.

2. You Were Formed for God’s Family

Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. Our families on earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, often broken by divorce, distance, growing old, and inevitably, death. On the other hand, our spiritual family—our relationship to other believers—will continue throughout eternity. It is a much stronger union, a more permanent bond, than blood relationships.

3. You Were Created to Become Like Christ

God uses his Word, people, and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God’s Word provides the truth we need to grow, God’s people provide the support we need to grow, and circumstances provide the environment we need to practice Christlikeness.

4. You Were Shaped for Serving God

You were saved to serve God. The Bible says, “It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work, not because we deserved it but because that was his plan.” (2 Tim. 1:9.) God redeemed you so you could do his “holy work.” You’re not saved by service, but you are saved for service. In God’s kingdom, you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill.

5. You Were Made for a Mission

To make the most of your time on earth, you must maintain an eternal perspective. This will keep you from majoring on minor issues and help you distinguish between what’s urgent and what’s ultimate. Paul said, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor.4:18.) So much of what we waste our energy on will not matter even a year from now, much less for eternity. Don’t trade your life for temporary things.

And now for the rest of the story.

You probably aren’t immediately familiar with the name Richard Duane, but you are familiar with him. “Richard Duane” is the first and middle name of Richard Duane Warren, a/k/a Rick Warren.

The lengthy quote above is the opening chapter to A Purpose Driven Life. The numbered sections are are the five major sections in the book, and the quotes are all taken, at random, from each section. I quickly thumbed through and landed on a few paragraphs here and there to read. If you want to know what Warren teaches—what built his empire and made him his millions—here it is.

Now, why this bait-and-switch? Is it because I like Rick Warren? No. I don’t. Is it because I want you to read his books or listen to his sermons or adapt his theology? No. I don’t.

I’m not a fan of Warren. I have some serious problems with his theology and his methods. Heck, on a purely subjective level, I think he kinda comes across as a jerk. As a Southern Baptist, I was glad when the denomination kicked out Saddleback Church—it was mournful to see that it was necessary, but it was necessary nonetheless.

But this post isn’t about Rick Warren. This is about something else that I often see in our circles, about something I see often on this sub.

When you see a name you don’t like, how do you respond? Do you immediately jump to all the critical buzzwords you know will get you the upvotes? Do you repeat that catchy phrase you saw that other user repeat last week? Is the purpose of your comment to inform and edify, or to grab points? Now, don’t get me wrong: There are people who are and who should be criticized. There are names that pop up on this sub who absolutely deserve to be castigated, and often times people need to be warned against dangerous teachers. But when you are quick to criticize someone, ask yourself a few questions:

• Have I actually read a decent amount of what they’ve written? Or am I just repeating accusations I’ve seen others make.

• Do I actually have a problem with this author’s theology? Or do I just not like his style, or the size of his church, or the popularity of his ministry? Am I forcing this person into my own neat, tidy categories for easy dismissal?

• If I have read his content widely and have legitimate disagreements, am I nonetheless overstating them? Is it possible that this author is wrong, maybe even seriously wrong, but not actually a heretic?

Again, I’m not defending Rick Warren. If this were a post about him, I’d give you a whole list of concerns I have—from minor to serious. This post is a call for introspection in the way we speak about other Christians, whether it’s on the sub, in church, at Bible Study, or elsewhere.

I live in Atlanta, GA. For better or worse, our church, like all churches here, exists in the shadow of North Point Ministries and its leader Andy Stanley.

This past year, Stanley has been embroiled in yet another theological controversy. And anytime that happens, all the same accusations from past controversies are brought to the surface.

At my church, the pastoral staff was fielding a not insignificant number of questions about him, sometimes on a weekly basis, from members concerns about their friends, family, and neighbors who attend North Point.

My pastor eventually spoke on the matter to the church, but before he did he took a wise step: He sat down, for several weeks, and listened to numerous Andy Stanley sermons, several months worth of Sunday morning messages. He took notes. He outlined his arguments. He checked his scripture referenced. And then he spoke to our church.

He didn’t just call him a seeker-sensitive heretic, throw the word “unhitched” around to get a few knowing nods from those-in-the-know, and just dismiss him.

He wanted to speak against him and to answer the questions from our members, but he wanted to do it knowingly and charitably.

It took a lot of time and energy. He probably didn’t score any culture war points in doing it that way. But it was immensely helpful and instructive for our body of believers.

So, the next time you see Rick Warren’s name on the sub, or that other person you hate, think very carefully about the accusations you throw out. Think about how you came to those conclusions. Think about what those conclusions really mean. Think about how you are presenting yourself on this semi-anonymous message board. Think of your purpose in speaking.

Edit: A missing word.