The Most Important Thing to Know and Do By Rick Warren
“I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.” Hosea 6:6 (TLB)
The Bible says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8 NLT).It doesn’t say he has love. It says he is love. It is the essence of his character. It is the nature of his being. God is love.
You could think you are a loving person and go around saying, “I’m so full of love.” But unless you bestow your love on a person, it doesn’t do a whole lot of good.
The Bible says that you were created as an object of God’s love. The very reason you’re taking a breath right now is this: God made you simply to love you. He thought you up and created you as the object of his love because he is love.
God didn’t need you. He wasn’t lonely. But he wanted you! The number one reason you were made was simply to be loved by God.
When you grasp this truth and let it shape your identity and purpose, you will never again have a problem with low self-esteem. Because when you realize how valuable you are—that God created the entire universe just so he could create the conditions so that human beings could exist so he could create you and love you—it will take away all those feelings of insecurity.
Unlike animals, we’re made in God’s image. That gives us the capacity to know and love God back.
One day Jesus was walking down the street when someone asked him, “Lord, what’s the most important command in Scripture?” And Jesus says, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38 NIV).The most important thing in life is to know and to love God.
God says in Hosea 6:6 in The Living Bible paraphrase, “I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.”
The most important thing you can know in life is that God created you to love you. And the most important thing you can do in life is to know and love him back.
When you get up in the morning, before you do anything else, sit on the edge of your bed and say, “God, if I don’t get anything else done today, I want to get to know you better and I want to love you more.”
Rick Warren is an innovative pastor, renowned author, and global influencer known for founding Saddleback Church, the Purpose Driven Network, the PEACE Plan, and Hope for Mental Health. He has written several best-selling books, including The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold over 35 million copies in 200 languages. Time magazine named Warren the most influential spiritual leader in America and one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Since stepping down from the lead pastor role at Saddleback in 2022, Warren has continued to inspire people through his Daily Hope Devotional and podcast Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. His first book in a decade, Created to Dream, was released in April 2023.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
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