There are four ways you can maintain balance among your purposes as you experience the purpose-driven life. God wants you to spread word of his love, his glory, and the promise of eternal life to unbelievers, through your unique mission and a shared mission. Whereas your ministry is how you serve other believers, your mission is your service to unbelievers. The way God planned for you to serve others is uniquely yours. God wants you to serve others-this is called ministry, the fourth purpose for your life. This spiritually mature character is already in you but hasn’t been shaped yet. The third purpose of your life is to become more like Jesus by taking on his values and character. Unselfish loving means loving others, even when it’s difficult to do so-such as when they’re being rude, it’s inconvenient for you, or they need too much from you. In loving your spiritual family, you’ll learn the essential skill of unselfish loving. God created us to be part of a spiritual family that dedicates itself to loving and honoring him-as a believer, you’re not only his child but a sibling to all other past, present, and future believers. The second purpose of your life is unselfishly loving fellow members of God’s family. It’s a lifestyle that centers on making God happy. Worship doesn’t happen only when you’re in church. Your first purpose is worship-bringing pleasure to God.

You’ll learn to see the glory of God everywhere, deepen your love for others, find the unique service you were made for, and prepare your character for the promise of eternal life. In living the purpose-driven life, you’ll start to find meaning in every moment of your life. In The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren reveals the meaning of life from a Christian perspective-five purposes that you were created by God to fulfill: worship, unselfish fellowship, spiritual maturity, your ministry, and your mission. Like many people, you might feel that you’re simply existing in life, going through the motions without understanding what it all means.

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Once you identify how you can live out each purpose, you must learn how to keep all of them in balance throughout your life. When you live out his five purposes, you experience the abundant life he promised. The purpose-driven life is what God planned for you. What are the five purposes in The Purpose-Driven Life? How do you keep them all in balance? Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here.

Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading. This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to 'The Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren.

The purpose driven life journal