To Get Happiness, Give Your Life Away By Rick Warren
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”Philippians 1:21 (NIV)
Happiness comes from serving and giving your life away. Until you understand this, you’re going to struggle to be happy in your life. Happiness comes from self-sacrifice, not self-gratification.
The Apostle Paul could say that he was happy because, even in the dark times of his life, he was giving his life away to help others.
Can you say that about your life? You’ll never be able to say that when you are living for yourself, because you’ll never find happiness in status or salary or sex.
Paul knew that to be happy, he had to stay focused on his purpose and not his problems. He sums up his purpose in Philippians 1:21: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (NIV).
If you were asked to fill in the blank, what word would you use? “For me, to live is ______.” Would it be entertainment? Sports? Clothes? Family? Friends? A career? You could fill in that blank with a lot of things that are not bad, things that are good in and of themselves. But nothing deserves the place of the One who created you and gave you your life: Jesus Christ.
How you fill in that blank will determine how happy you are in life. If you answer “money” or “success” or “pleasure” or “power,” you are going to be unhappy for most of your life. The issue isn’t whether there’s something wrong with those things; they just don’t deserve first place.
You weren’t created to make a bunch of money, then die and have it given away. God has a far greater purpose for your life.
There is only one answer that leads to happiness: To live is Christ.
To get the life you really want, give your life away.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
Your Gift Brings Hope to the World
God has dreams for your life!
In Pastor Rick’s book "Created to Dream: The 6 Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith," you’ll learn how to discover God’s custom-made dream for your life—a dream that is bigger and better than anything you could ever dream up on your own! And you’ll find practical help for navigating challenges, delays, and detours that stand in your way.
We’d love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your generous gift below to help take the hope of Jesus to more people through Daily Hope.
Request yours when you give today—and thank you for your partnership!
*All gifts will be doubled up to the full amount of the grant. Thank you for your generous support! *The USA IRS code permits you to deduct the amount of your financial gift to Daily Hope that exceeds the fair market value of materials you received from Daily Hope.
