Rick Warren believes that life is all about love, and that God's most important lesson for humanity is how to love. He argues that learning to love unselfishly takes a lifetime of practice. Warren asserts that relationships should be prioritized above all else, and that people will be evaluated in heaven based on how they treated others. The essence of love, he claims, is investing time in relationships rather than gifts or provisions.

1. What Matters
Most
Section 16 (pages 123-129)
Monday 27 September 2010

2. Life is all about
love
Agree or disagree?
What do you think Rick Warren
means by this?
Monday 27 September 2010

3. God is love - the most important
lesson he wants you to learn on earth
is how to love - in loving we are most
like him.
“The whole law can be summed up in thsi
one command: ‘Love others as you love
yourself ’”
Monday 27 September 2010

4. Learning to love unselfishly is not an
easy task - it is opposite o our sinful
nature - hence we get a lifetime to
learn it
God wants us to love his family in a
special way
Monday 27 September 2010

5. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us
do good to all people, especially to those
who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:10
Monday 27 September 2010

6. God wants his family to be known for
their love more than for anything else;
"A new command I give you: Love one
another. As I have loved you, so you must
love one another. By this all men will know
that you are my disciples, if you love one
another."
John 13:34-35
Monday 27 September 2010

7. Love cannot be
learned in isolation
You have to be around
irritating, imperfect,
frustrating people.
Monday 27 September 2010

8. The Best Use of Life is Love
Let love be your highest goal! But
you should also desire the special abilities
the Spirit gives—especially the ability to
prophesy.
1 Cor 14:1
Warren makes the point out of this
that relationships have to be your
priority above all else in life. Why?
Monday 27 September 2010

9. Life without love is really worthless
1 Cor. 13:3,
“No matter what I say, what I believe, and
what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”
Often we act as if relationships are to
be squeezed into our timetable
Monday 27 September 2010

10. 10 commandments - 4 deal with
relating to God - 6 with relating to
people
Monday 27 September 2010

11. And Christ Himself said when asked
what was the greatest of all the
Commandments,
“You must love the Lord your God with all
your heart…This is the first and greatest
commandment.
Monday 27 September 2010

12. A second is equally important:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the other Commandments and all the
demands of the prophets are based on
these two Commandments.”
Matt. 22:37-40
Monday 27 September 2010

13. The busier we get the
more we neglect and
even ignore
relationships. Busyness is
a great enemy of
relationships - the point
of life is learning to love.
Monday 27 September 2010

14. Love will Last Forever
And now these three remain: faith, hope
and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor 13:13
“It’s not what you do but how much love
you put into it that matters”
Mother Teresa
Monday 27 September 2010

15. Dying people do
not want their
diplomas, awards,
medals etc. - they
want to be
surrounded by
people.
Relationships are
what life is all about.
Monday 27 September 2010

16. We will be Evaluated on our Love
One of the ways God measures
spiritual maturity is by the quality of
your relationships.
In heaven God will look at how you
treated people, Matt 25:40:
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth,
whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Monday 27 September 2010

17. Gal. 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision has any value. The only thing
that counts is faith expressing itself through
love.
Warren suggests praying the following
prayer, kneeling at the side of your bed
each morning.
Monday 27 September 2010

18. “God whether I get anything else done today,I
want to make sure I spend time loving you
and loving other people - because that’s what
life is all about. I don’t want to waste this
day”
Why should God give you
another day if you are just going
to waste it?
Monday 27 September 2010

19. The Best Expression of Love is Time
The importance of things
can be measured by the
time we are willing to
invest in them.
What do you think is important?
What do your actions say is
important?
Monday 27 September 2010

20. Time is your most valuable gift.
You can make more money - you can
never make more time.
Giving people time is giving them a
portion of your life that you will never get
back - that is why it is the most valuable
gift you can give.
Don’t say relationships are important -
prove it by investing time in them.
Monday 27 September 2010

21. Dear children, let us not love with words or
tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18
The best way to spell love is T-I-M-E
The essence of love is not gifts or
provision but how much we give of
ourselves - men (often) do not realise this
Monday 27 September 2010

22. Dear children, let us not love with words or
tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18
The best way to spell love is T-I-M-E
The essence of love is not gifts or
provision but how much we give of
ourselves - men (often) do not realise this
Monday 27 September 2010

23. Some men think providing food, clothing
etc. is all a family should want from them.
Your family want you! Your eyes, your
ears, your attention, focus, presence - your
time.
Love concentrates so intently on a person
that it forgets itself in that moment
Monday 27 September 2010

24. Live a life filled with love,
following the example of
Christ. He loved us and offered
himself as a sacrifice for us, a
pleasing aroma to God.
Ephesians 5:2 (NLT)
You cannot give without loving,
but you cannot love without
giving.
John 3:16
Monday 27 September 2010

25. Love means giving up
- yielding my preferences,
comfort, goals, security,
money, energy, time for the
benefit of someone else
Monday 27 September 2010

26. The Best Time to Love in NOW
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do
good to all people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers.
Gal 6:10
...making the most of every opportunity, because
the days are evil.
Eph 5:16
Do not withhold good from those who deserve
it, when it is in your power to act
Proverbs 3:27
Monday 27 September 2010

27. The Best Time to Love in NOW
Why is now the best time to love?
Because you don’t know how long
you will have the opportunity
Monday 27 September 2010

28. Point to Ponder:
Life is all about love
Monday 27 September 2010

29. Verse to remember:
The entire law is summed up in a single
command: "Love your neighbor as
yourself."
Gal 5:14
Monday 27 September 2010

30. Question to Consider:
Honestly, are relationships my first
priority? How can I ensure they are?
Monday 27 September 2010