Introduction — A Journey with Purpose
Warren wrote this book as a guide to a forty-day journey toward answering life’s most important question: What on earth am I here for? Knowing the answer, he says, will reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, and prepare you for eternity.
The average life span is 25,550 days. Wouldn’t it be wise to set aside forty of them to figure out what God wants you to do with the rest? Whenever God prepared someone for his purposes, he took forty days. Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness. So the book has forty short readings, one for each day. The first seven ask why you exist at all. The rest walk through the five purposes God has for every life.
Day 1 — It All Starts with God
The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years, because we usually start in the wrong place: ourselves. But you didn’t create yourself, so there’s no way you can tell yourself what you were created for. If someone handed you an invention you’d never seen, you wouldn’t know its purpose, and the invention couldn’t tell you either. Only the one who made it could. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.
That turns the usual advice upside down. Life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not using him for yours. You could reach every personal goal, become a raving success by the world’s standard, and still miss what you were made for. But God hasn’t left us to guess. He has revealed five purposes for our lives in the Bible.
Day 2 — You Are Not an Accident
You’re part of God’s plan on purpose. Long before your parents conceived you, you were conceived in the mind of God. It isn’t fate, chance, luck, or coincidence that you’re breathing right now. You’re alive because God wanted to create you. The Bible says, “You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.”
A poem by Russell Kelfer goes even further. It says the parents you had were the ones God chose. And the trauma you faced, though God wept that it hurt you so, was allowed to shape your heart so that you’d grow into his likeness. You are not an accident.
Day 3 — What Drives Your Life?
Still, most people don’t live as if they were made on purpose. Everyone’s life is driven by something, and there are five common drivers. Some people are driven by guilt and let their past control their future. But we’re products of our past. We don’t have to be prisoners of it. God turned a murderer named Moses into a leader and a coward named Gideon into a hero. Others are driven by resentment, and they replay their hurts instead of forgiving them. Some are driven by fear. Many are driven by materialism, sure that having more will make them happier and more secure. And many are driven by the need for approval. You may not know all the keys to success, but one key to failure is trying to please everyone.
A life driven by God’s purposes is different. Knowing your purpose gives your life meaning. When life has meaning, you can bear almost anything. The greatest tragedy isn’t death but life without purpose. It also simplifies your life. You just ask, “Does this help me fulfill one of God’s purposes?” You have just enough time to do God’s will. If you can’t get it all done, you’re doing more than God intended, or possibly watching too much television.
Purpose also focuses your energy on what matters. And it prepares you for eternity. You weren’t put here to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity. One day God will ask you two questions. What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ? And what did you do with what I gave you? The first decides where you’ll spend eternity. The second decides what you’ll do there.
Day 4 — Made to Last Forever
That final exam only makes sense if this life isn’t the whole story, and it isn’t. Life on earth is the dress rehearsal before the real production. It’s the warm-up lap before the race. You’ll spend far more time on the other side of death than here. The Bible calls your earthly body a tent, but it calls your future body a house.
When you live in light of eternity, your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You care more about relationships and character than about fame or wealth. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.
Day 5 — Seeing Life from God’s View
How you see your life shapes how you live it, and the Bible gives three pictures of how God sees it. The first is that life is a test. God tested Abraham, Joseph, and Daniel, and he tests you through problems, success, conflict, and illness. He even notices whether you’re polite to a waitress. Character is both built and revealed by tests, so nothing in your life is insignificant.
The second is that life is a trust. Your time, abilities, relationships, and money are gifts God has placed in your care. Jesus told a story about a man who left his wealth with his servants while he traveled, then rewarded the ones who used it well. He told each of them, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” If you can’t be trusted with earthly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?
Day 6 — Life Is a Temporary Assignment
The third picture is that life is a temporary assignment. The Bible calls life a mist and a breath, and it calls us foreigners and pilgrims. Earth isn’t our home. That’s why some prayers seem unanswered and some circumstances seem unfair. This isn’t the end of the story.
A fish would never be happy on land, because it was made for water. And you’ll never be fully satisfied here, because you were made for more. You won’t be in heaven two seconds before you cry out, “Why did I place so much importance on things that were so temporary?”
Day 7 — The Reason for Everything
So what’s it all for? The answer is God’s glory. When anything fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God. We do that in five ways, and they map out the rest of the book. We bring God glory by worshiping him, by loving his family, by becoming like Christ, by serving others with our gifts, and by telling others about him. As John Piper puts it, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
Purpose One — You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure
Day 8 — Planned for God’s Pleasure
The first purpose is to bring God pleasure, and that’s called worship. Worship isn’t the same as music. Adam worshiped in Eden long before music is ever mentioned. And it isn’t for your benefit. If you’ve ever said, “I didn’t get anything out of worship today,” you worshiped for the wrong reason. We worship for God.
Worship isn’t a part of your life. It is your life. People in the Bible praised God at work, at home, in battle, in jail, and even in bed. Every activity can become worship when you do it for God’s pleasure. Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to him.
Day 9 — What Makes God Smile?
What makes God smile? Noah shows us. The Bible says, “Noah was a pleasure to the Lord.” He loved God more than anything, even when no one else did. Noah trusted God when it didn’t make sense and built a ship on dry land. And he obeyed. Understanding can wait, but obedience can’t. We like to pick the commands we like. I’ll go to church, but I won’t tithe. I’ll read my Bible, but I won’t forgive. Yet partial obedience is disobedience.
God also smiles when you simply live the life he designed. After the flood, he told Noah to get on with it: plant crops, raise a family, be human. When you live this way, your question changes from “How much pleasure am I getting out of life?” to “How much pleasure is God getting out of my life?”
Day 10 — The Heart of Worship
The heart of worship is surrender. It’s an unpopular word, because it sounds like losing. But Paul urges us to offer ourselves to God as “a living sacrifice.” God wants all of your life. Ninety-five percent isn’t enough.
Three things hold us back: fear, pride, and confusion. We won’t surrender to God until we trust him, and we won’t trust him until we know how much he loves us. Pride is the oldest temptation, the wish to be like God and control everything. And we’re confused about what surrender means. It isn’t passive or lazy. It looks like Peter after a night of catching nothing, when Jesus told him to try again. Peter answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
Here’s the paradox: victory comes through surrender. But it’s never a one-time event. The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar, so you may have to surrender again fifty times a day. Warren once asked Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, why God had used him so much. Bright said that as a young man he’d written a contract with God and signed it. It said, “From this day forward, I am a slave of Jesus Christ.”
Day 11 — Becoming Best Friends with God
God doesn’t only want surrendered servants. He wants friends. In Eden, Adam and Eve had a simple friendship with him, with no rituals in the way. Because of Jesus, anyone can have that again. Jesus told his disciples he no longer called them servants. He called them friends.
That friendship grows as you share all of your life with God. In the seventeenth century, a monastery cook named Brother Lawrence learned to turn even washing dishes into praise. The key, he said, isn’t changing what you do but changing your attitude toward it. You can pray short “breath prayers” through the day, like “You are with me” or “Help me trust you.” You can also think about God’s Word all day. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate. You just switch from thinking about your problem to thinking about a verse. Prayer lets you speak to God, and meditation lets God speak to you.
Day 12 — Developing Your Friendship with God
Real friends are honest with each other. The friends of God in the Bible complained, argued, and questioned him. Abraham bargained with God over the city of Sodom. David accused him of abandoning him. Job vented his bitterness, and in the end God defended Job for being honest. Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward a closer friendship.
In the end, you’re as close to God as you choose to be. Friendship with him is a choice, not an accident.
Day 13 — Worship That Pleases God
God doesn’t want part of your life. He asks for all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The worship that pleases him is accurate and authentic. It’s based on who he really is, and it comes from the heart. Heartless praise isn’t praise at all.
Be specific, too. If someone told you “I praise you!” ten times in a row, you’d wonder, For what? You’d rather get two specific compliments than twenty vague ones, and so would God. Real worship also costs something. When you praise God though you don’t feel like it, or get up to worship when you’re tired, that’s a sacrifice that pleases him.
Day 14 — When God Seems Distant
The deepest level of worship is loving God when he seems far away. David was called a man after God’s own heart, yet he often cried, “Why do you hide when I need you the most?” God has promised, “I will never leave you.” He didn’t promise you’d always feel him.
That distance is a test of faith. Will you keep trusting and worshiping God when you can’t feel him at all? When Job’s life fell apart and God was silent, Job still praised God for being good, powerful, and in control.
Purpose Two — You Were Formed for God’s Family
Day 15 — Formed for God’s Family
God’s second purpose is that you belong to his family. God is love, so he treasures relationships. He even describes himself in family terms: Father, Son, and Spirit. As his child, you share the family inheritance. You’ll be with God forever and be freed from pain and death, and no war or bad economy can take that away. That inheritance, not retirement, is what you should be working toward.
Baptism is the picture of this. It celebrates that you’ve been included in God’s family. So whenever you feel unimportant, unloved, or insecure, remember who you belong to.
Day 16 — What Matters Most
Life in God’s family is all about love. Love isn’t a good part of your life. It’s the most important part. Jesus summed up everything in two commands: love God and love people. But when life is ending, people don’t want objects around them. They want the people they love. Love is also what we’ll be evaluated on in eternity. God won’t ask about your career or bank account. He’ll ask how you treated people.
If you want to know someone’s priorities, look at how they use their time. The best gift of love isn’t diamonds or roses. It’s focused attention. You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving. The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.
Day 17 — A Place to Belong
God wants you to practice that love in a church family. Your relationship to Christ is personal, but it was never meant to be private. Following Christ means belonging, not just believing. The Bible calls the church the bride of Christ. You can’t say to Jesus, “I love you, but I dislike your wife.”
Our culture has made many “bunny believers” who hop from church to church without commitment. But you’ll never grow as a spectator. Attenders are consumers. Members are contributors. And don’t wait for the perfect church. God wants you to love real people, not ideal people.
Day 18 — Experiencing Life Together
Real fellowship happens best in small groups. Jesus chose twelve disciples. In real fellowship, people get honest about their hurts, doubts, and fears. When our faith falters, we need a few friends to have faith in God for us and pull us through.
Real fellowship also takes mercy. You’ll never be asked to forgive someone more than God has already forgiven you. But forgiveness and trust are different. Forgiveness must be immediate, whether or not the person asks for it. Trust has to be rebuilt over time. If someone keeps hurting you, you must forgive them, but you don’t have to keep letting them hurt you.
Day 19 — Cultivating Community
Community like that takes effort. It takes honesty, even when honesty brings conflict, because groups that dodge every tension stay shallow. It takes patience with difficult people, and every group has at least one. And it takes time. The first Christians met every day.
It helps when a small group agrees on a few things together. We’ll share our true feelings, encourage and support each other, forgive each other, speak the truth in love, admit our weaknesses, respect our differences, not gossip, and make the group a priority.
Day 20 — Restoring Broken Fellowship
Even the best group will have conflict. So talk to God before you talk to the person. If you pray instead of gossiping, God will often change your heart or theirs. Then go first, whether you’re the offender or the offended. Start by admitting your part, and pick your words carefully. If you say it offensively, it will be received defensively.
Most important, emphasize reconciliation, not resolution. Reconciliation focuses on the relationship. Resolution focuses on the problem. God expects unity, not uniformity, and we can walk arm in arm without seeing eye to eye.
Day 21 — Protecting Your Church
Nothing on earth is more valuable to God than his church, and he wants it protected from division. So focus on what you have in common, and be patient with each other’s faults. If a church must be perfect to satisfy you, that same perfection will keep you out, because you’re not perfect either.
Refuse to judge other believers. Don’t even listen to gossip. Listening to it is like accepting stolen property.
Purpose Three — You Were Created to Become Like Christ
Day 22 — Created to Become Like Christ
God’s third purpose, planned from the very beginning, is to make you like his Son, Jesus. He doesn’t want you to become a god. He wants you to become godly, taking on his values and character. God’s goal for your life on earth isn’t comfort but character. That doesn’t mean losing your personality. It means changing your character.
You can’t do this on willpower. The Holy Spirit does the work, but you cooperate, and he releases his power when you step out in faith. The Jordan River parted only after the leaders stepped into the water. So don’t wait to feel confident.
Day 23 — How We Grow
Spiritual growth isn’t automatic. You have to want it, decide on it, and keep at it. The Bible describes two sides of it. You “work out” your salvation, and God “works in” you.
Change always starts in your mind. Behind everything you do is a thought. Willpower alone gives short-term change, but it creates constant stress because you haven’t dealt with the root. The better way is to change your autopilot, the way you think. The next few days show three tools God uses to change you: truth, trouble, and even temptation.
Day 24 — Transformed by Truth
God’s first tool is truth. We often base choices on culture, tradition, or emotion, and all of them fail us. Only God’s Word is a perfect standard. But it isn’t enough to believe it. You have to fill your mind with it: read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. And you have to apply it, which is hard, so talk about it with others. The Bible wasn’t given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.
Day 25 — Transformed by Trouble
The second tool is trouble. Life is a series of problems, and God uses them to draw you close. Your deepest worship will likely come in your darkest days, when you turn to God alone.
God can bring good out of the worst evil. Flour, raw eggs, and oil taste bad on their own, but baked together they make a cake. And the good he’s after is that you become like his Son. Your circumstances are temporary, but your character will last forever. A silversmith was asked how he knew when silver was pure. He said, “When I see my reflection in it.” Trials refine you until people can see Jesus in you.
But problems don’t automatically make you better. So give thanks in all circumstances, which isn’t the same as thanking God for all of them. Pray fewer “comfort me” prayers and more “conform me” prayers. And instead of asking, “Why me?” ask, “What do you want me to learn?”
Day 26 — Growing through Temptation
The third tool is one we’d never expect: temptation. Satan uses temptation to destroy you, but God uses it to develop you. He grows each fruit of the Spirit by letting you face its opposite. He teaches love by putting unlovely people around you. You can’t claim to be faithful if you’ve never had the chance to be unfaithful.
It isn’t a sin to be tempted. Jesus was tempted and never sinned. As Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” So learn your pattern. Ask when, where, and with whom you’re most tempted. Satan knows your weak spots, so you should too.
Day 27 — Defeating Temptation
When temptation comes, refocus. Fighting a thought only keeps your attention on it. A speaker who keeps telling herself “Don’t be nervous!” makes herself nervous. You defeat bad thoughts by thinking of something better.
Next, tell a godly friend about your struggle, because problems grow in the dark and shrink in the light. If you could beat it alone, you would have already. Resist the devil with Scripture, the way Jesus did in the wilderness. If you don’t have any verses memorized, you’ve got no bullets in your gun. And never think you’re above falling. It’s easier to stay out of temptation than to get out of it.
Day 28 — It Takes Time
All of this takes time. We want a sermon or seminar that fixes everything at once, but growth is gradual. We’re slow learners, and we have a lot to unlearn. So be patient with God and with yourself. God is never in a hurry, but he’s always on time. He took eighty years to prepare Moses. A delay isn’t a denial. You’re not where you want to be, but you’re not where you used to be either.
Purpose Four — You Were Shaped for Serving God
Day 29 — Accepting Your Assignment
God’s fourth purpose is that you serve. You weren’t created just to eat, breathe, and take up space. You were made to add to life, not just take from it. You’re not saved by service, but you are saved for service. That’s why God doesn’t take you to heaven the moment you believe. He leaves you here to serve.
Think you have nothing to offer? Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Jeremiah was depressed, and Timothy was timid. God used every one of them. He’ll use you too if you stop making excuses.
Day 30 — Shaped for Serving God
Whenever God gives you an assignment, he equips you for it. The book calls this your SHAPE, which stands for your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experience. You can’t earn spiritual gifts. That’s why they’re called gifts, and they’re given for the good of others.
Your heart is what you love to do. You’ll know you’re serving from your heart when nobody has to push you, and when you keep getting better at it. Don’t settle for the good life. You can have a lot to live on and still have nothing to live for.
Day 31 — Understanding Your Shape
No one else has your mix of gifts and experiences, so no one else can play your role. If you don’t make your contribution, it won’t be made. And don’t say you have no abilities. Serve in a way that fits your personality, too. It’s easier to work with the grain than against it.
But the part of your shape God uses most is your pain. God never wastes a hurt. Your greatest ministry will likely come from your greatest hurt. Who can better help an alcoholic than someone who found freedom? The experiences you’ve wanted to hide are the ones God wants to use to help others.
Day 32 — Using What God Gave You
To find your shape, just start serving. If something doesn’t work out, call it an experiment, not a failure. Ask what you enjoy most and when you feel fully alive. Keep a journal, because forgotten experiences are worthless.
Accept the shape God gave you instead of trying to be someone else. And use it, because like an unused muscle, what you don’t use you’ll lose. What you are is God’s gift to you. What you do with yourself is your gift to God.
Day 33 — How Real Servants Act
Everyone wants to lead, and nobody wants to be a servant. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. Real servants stay available. They notice needs. They do the small jobs nobody wants, because God is watching. The race to be a leader is crowded, but the field is wide open for servants. And they don’t serve for applause. They live for an audience of One.
Day 34 — Thinking Like a Servant
Serving starts in the mind. Real servants think like stewards, not owners. They don’t compare or complain. And they serve from a secure identity. Washing feet was the lowest job in the house, but Jesus knew who he was, so the job didn’t threaten him. Because servants know they’re loved by grace, they don’t have to prove their worth.
Day 35 — God’s Power in Your Weakness
Every servant has weaknesses. Usually we deny or hide them, and that keeps God from using them. But God isn’t impressed with self-sufficiency. He’s drawn to people who are weak and admit it. So admit your weaknesses, learn to be content with them, and be honest about them with others. Our strengths create competition, but our weaknesses create community.
Jacob wrestled with God all night and wouldn’t let go until God blessed him. God did bless him, but he also touched Jacob’s hip, and Jacob walked with a limp for the rest of his life. If you want God to use you greatly, you have to be willing to walk with a limp.
Purpose Five — You Were Made for a Mission
Day 36 — Made for a Mission
God’s fifth purpose is your mission. Jesus knew his clearly. At twelve, he said, “I must be about my Father’s business.” On the cross he said, “It is finished.” His mission is now ours: introducing people to God. If your neighbor had cancer and you knew the cure, it would be criminal to keep quiet. It’s even worse to keep quiet about the way to eternal life. If just one person is in heaven because of you, your life will have made a difference for eternity.
Near the end of his father’s life, Warren and his wife sat by his bed. One night his father suddenly tried to get up. When she asked what he was doing, he said, “Got to save one more for Jesus!” He said it over and over, probably a hundred times. Then he put his frail hand on his son’s head and said, “Save one more for Jesus!” Warren made that the theme of the rest of his life.
Day 37 — Sharing Your Life Message
You don’t need to argue anyone into faith. In court, a witness doesn’t argue the case. He just says what happened. Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses,” not “my attorneys.” Your story is yours alone, and it gets past people’s defenses.
So write it down: what life was like before Jesus, how you realized you needed him, how you committed your life to him, and the difference he’s made. If you’re afraid, ask God to fill you with love for people. A parent will run into a burning building for a child, because love is greater than fear.
Day 38 — Becoming a World-Class Christian
Your mission doesn’t stop at your own neighborhood. Jesus said to take the Good News everywhere in the world. So pray for the world, and save up for a short-term mission trip. It could be the turning point in your life. And stop making excuses. When Jeremiah said he was too young, God told him, “Don’t say that.”
Day 39 — Balancing Your Life
By now you’ve seen all five purposes. The challenge is keeping them in balance. Jesus summed up the five purposes in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Love God, which is worship. Love your neighbor, which is ministry. Go and make disciples, which is mission. Baptize them, which is fellowship in God’s family. And teach them, which is discipleship, growing to be like Christ.
To stay balanced, give yourself regular checkups on those five vital signs. Keep a journal. Pass on what you learn, the way Jesus did. The night before he died, he told the Father his work was done. He’d spent three years teaching his disciples to worship, love each other, grow, serve, and tell others.
Day 40 — Living with Purpose
Most people struggle with three questions. Who am I? Do I matter? What’s my place? God’s five purposes answer all three. So write a purpose statement and review it often. And start with the question of worship: what will be at the center of your life? When God is at the center, you worship. When he’s not, you worry.
Day 41 — The Envy Trap
The book ends with two traps that pull people off God’s path. The first is envy. It starts when we resent how God made others and reject how he made us. Every time you wish you were someone else, you’re saying, “God, you made a mistake with me.”
If you want more happiness, learn to enjoy the successes of others. And when life feels unfair, remember that everything you have is an undeserved gift, and it wasn’t fair for Jesus to die in your place. But he did.
Day 42 — The People-Pleaser Trap
The second trap is people-pleasing. After talking with people in over a hundred countries, Warren believes the fear of rejection is the most common reason people get detoured from God’s plan. As soon as you know what you were made to do, Satan whispers, “But what will other people think?” So whose opinion matters most to you? Whoever that person is, is your god. When God’s approval matters most, other people lose their grip, because he will never reject you.
Even God can’t please everyone. Farmers pray for rain while children pray for sunshine. And one day, God won’t ask if you were popular. He’ll ask, “Did you fulfill the purpose I created you for?”
That’s the question this whole book has been getting you ready for. You started by asking, What on earth am I here for? Now you know. You were planned for God’s pleasure, formed for his family, created to become like Christ, shaped to serve, and made for a mission. Forty days is a short time. But it’s long enough to learn the answer. The rest of your life is for living it.