Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California just shared what he considers as the most important message he will ever give, and it concerns God and why He created mankind.
"If I only had one sermon to preach, it would be this message - to teach you why God made you and what you're supposed to do with your life," he said during a sermon entitled "Why God Made You."
Warren said that everything God does has a purpose, and the fact that you are alive already means that your life is meaningful and God has a plan for you. Because of this, he urged Christians to seek God for knowledge since the only way to achieve meaning in life is through God.
"You were made by God, you were made for God; until you understand that, your life is never going to make sense. You've got to start with God," he said.
Warren added that the saying to "look within" is actually false and it does not work. Self-reflection only creates confusion, he said, since only the Creator can tell people what their purpose truly is.
He then said that people should be eager to know God and to love Him, since God created the world out of love. "He didn't need you. God is totally satisfied in Himself but He wanted you. That shows how valuable you are," said Warren.
And it really makes God happy if people rightfully reciprocate His love. He shared the Bible verse Psalm 149:4 which says, "For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation."
Warren said that God loves people in spite of everything He knows about them, and He wants people to learn how to love Him back. And this is done through worship.
"It doesn't matter how many things you accomplish, how many things you achieve, how much money you make. If at the end of each day, you don't know God a little bit better and love Him a little bit more, you just wasted that day. Because God did not create you and put you on earth just to mark things off your to-do list," said Warren. "He put you here to know Him and love Him."
Another reason why God created mankind is for people to learn how to love others in God's family, and learn how to grow with them.
"It is only when we walk closely with others in God's family that we can know them deeply and learn how to love one another the way that He does," he said. "The greater the differences that we have with those we fellowship with are, the greater the potential for growth is."
That growth is spiritual, with Jesus Christ as the role model. Warren explained that God cares about people's spiritual growth since it will help them get to Heaven. However, the road to Heaven won't be an easy one.
"If God's going to teach you real love, He's going to put you around unlovely people so that you have to learn to love. How is God going to teach you patience? By testing it. By irritation. By chaos. It's easy to be patient and at peace when everything's going your way, but real peace and real patience are learned in the middle of chaos," he explained.
But ultimately God created Christians in order to fulfill His mission and tell the whole world who God truly is, Warren concluded. To ignore that mission, and everything God has intended for us would be an enormous waste of life, he warned.
