Best Quotes

Selected lines collected in the source PDF under “Best Quotes from The Purpose Driven Life.” Each entry preserves the PDF wording and, where a Scripture reference appears, links to the UECF.NET NKJV Bible.

Chapter 1: It All Starts with God

1. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,. . . everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.
2. It's not about you.
3. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
4. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God.
5. Life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose.
6. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.
7. To discover your purpose in life you must turn to God's Word, not the world's wisdom.
8. Without God life makes no sense.

Chapter 2: You Are Not an Accident

1. You are not an accident.
2. Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.
3. God's motive for creating you was his love.
4. You were created as a special object of God's love!
5. God never does anything accidentally, and he never makes mistakes.
6. If there was no God, we would all be 'accidents,'
7. You are who you are for a reason.

Chapter 3: What Drives Your Life?

1. The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder-a waif, a nothing, a no man.
2. We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.
3. Your past is past! Nothing will change it. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness.
4. Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason.
5. Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. We were made to have meaning.
6. Purpose always produces passion. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose.
7. You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.
8. What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?
9. Living on purpose is the path to peace.

Chapter 4: Made to Last Forever

1. This life is not all there is.
2. When this tent we live in-our body here on earth-is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever.
3. When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently.
4. There are two kinds of people: those who say to God 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says, 'All right then, have it your way.'
5. Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
6. Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so this life is preparation for the next.
7. This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.

Chapter 5: Seeing Life from God's View

1. The way you see your life shapes your life.
2. Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test.
3. Life on earth is a Trust.
4. If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?
5. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Chapter 6: Life Is a Temporary Assignment

1. Life on earth is a temporary assignment.
2. Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is heaven.
3. We are Christ's ambassadors.
4. This world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it.
5. Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better.
6. Those infrequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of them without becoming attached to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away.
7. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.
8. But my child, you're not home yet.

Chapter 7: The Reason for Everything

1. Everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory.
2. The ultimate goal of the universe is to show the glory of God. It is the reason for everything that exists, including you.
3. Living for God's glory is the greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives.
4. The glory of God is best seen in Jesus Christ.
5. When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God.
6. The glory of God is a human being fully alive!
7. We bring God glory by worshiping him. Worship is our first responsibility to God.
8. 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.
9. God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts.

Chapter 8: Planned for God's Pleasure

1. You were planned for God's pleasure.
2. Bringing pleasure to God is called 'worship.'
3. Worship is not for your benefit. It is for God's benefit.
4. Worship is not a part of your life; it is your life.
5. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

Chapter 9: What Makes God Smile?

1. The smile of God is the goal of your life.
2. God wants most from you: a relationship!
3. God smiles when we trust him completely.
4. God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly.
5. God smiles when we praise and thank him continually.
6. You don't bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your abilities or by trying to be someone else.
7. What God looks at is the attitude of your heart: Is pleasing him your deepest desire?

Chapter 10: The Heart of Worship

1. The heart of worship is surrender.
2. Surrendering to God is the heart of worship.
3. The more you realize how much God loves you, the easier surrender becomes.
4. Surrendering is not for cowards or doormats.
5. Nothing else works.
6. Surrender is not the best way to live; it is the only way to live.
7. When we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus, we discover that he is not a tyrant, but a savior; not a boss, but a brother; not a dictator, but a friend.
8. Your wisest moments will be those when you say yes to God.
9. Have you ever signed a contract like that with God?

Chapter 11: Becoming Best Friends with God

1. God wants to be your best friend.
2. Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege, and being known and loved is God's greatest pleasure.
3. Everything you do can be 'spending time with God' if he is invited to be a part of it and you stay aware of his presence.
4. Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises.
5. Praying without ceasing means conversing with God while shopping, driving, working, or performing any other everyday tasks.
6. Meditation is simply focused thinking-a skill anyone can learn and use anywhere.
7. The more time you spend reviewing what God has said, the more you will understand the 'secrets' of this life that most people miss.

Chapter 12: Developing Your Friendship with God

1. You are as close to God as you choose to be.
2. God doesn't expect you to be perfect, but he does insist on complete honesty.
3. Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God.
4. When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.
5. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.
6. What pleases the LORD more: burnt offerings and sacrifices or obedience to his voice? It is better to obey than to sacrifice.
7. Your problems are not punishment; they are wake-up calls from a loving God.
8. The thing I seek most of all is the privilege of meditating in his Temple, living in his presence every day of my life.

Chapter 13: Worship That Pleases God

1. God wants all of you.
2. True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
3. Heartless praise is not praise at all! It is worthless, an insult to God.
4. God wants you to be yourself.
5. Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
6. Real worship costs.

Chapter 14: When God Seems Distant

1. God is real, no matter how you feel.
2. The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain, thanking God during a trial, trusting him when tempted, surrendering while suffering, and loving him when he seems distant.
3. Trusting God but feeling despair at the same time, David wrote, 'I believed, so I said, `I am completely ruined!'
4. When you feel abandoned by God yet continue to trust him in spite of your feelings, you worship him in the deepest way.
5. Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.
6. If God never did anything else for you, he would still deserve your continual praise for the rest of your life because of what Jesus did for you on the cross.

Chapter 15: Formed for God's Family

1. You were formed for God's family.
2. God has always existed in loving relationship to himself, so he has never been lonely.
3. Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever.
4. Being included in God's family is the highest honor and the greatest privilege you will ever receive.
5. Baptism doesn't make you a member of God's family; only faith in Christ does that.
6. Since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you.

Chapter 16: What Matters Most

1. No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
2. Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love.
3. The best use of life is love.
4. Life without love is really worthless.
5. Love will last forever.
6. In our final moments we all realize that relationships are what life is all about.
7. We will be evaluated on our love.
8. The greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
9. The best time to love is now.

Chapter 17: A Place to Belong

1. You are called to belong, not just believe.
2. We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God's purposes by ourselves.
3. Following Christ includes belonging, not just believing.
4. You discover your role in life through your relationships with others.
5. Love your spiritual family.
6. You belong in God's household with every other Christian.
7. The church is a body, not a building; an organism, not an organization.

Chapter 18: Experiencing Life Together

1. Life is meant to be shared. God intends for us to experience life together. The Bible calls this shared experience fellowship.
2. In real fellowship people experience authenticity.
3. In real fellowship people experience mutuality.
4. In real fellowship people experience sympathy.
5. Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren't rubbed in but rubbed out.

Chapter 19: Cultivating Community

1. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.
2. Community requires commitment.
3. Real fellowship, whether in a marriage, a friendship, or your church, depends on frankness.
4. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.
5. The fellowship of the church is more important than any individual.
6. If you want to cultivate real fellowship, it will mean meeting together even when you don't feel like it, because you believe it is important.

Chapter 20: Restoring Broken Fellowship

1. Relationships are always worth restoring.
2. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
3. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right.
4. A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper fire.
5. Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem.
6. Work hard at living in peace with others.

Chapter 21: Protecting Your Church

1. Unity in the church is so important that the New Testament gives more attention to it than to either heaven or hell.
2. God wants unity, not uniformity.
3. Conflict is usually a sign that the focus has shifted to less important issues, things the Bible calls 'disputable matters.'
4. We must passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections.
5. If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we keep complaining that everything is paltry and petty, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow.
6. A critical spirit is a costly vice.
7. Listening to gossip is like accepting stolen property, and it makes you just as guilty of the crime.
8. We protect the fellowship when we honor those who serve us by leading.

Chapter 22: Created to Become Like Christ

1. You were created to become like Christ.
2. God's ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development.
3. Never forget that life is not about you! You exist for God's purposes, not vice versa.
4. Character is essentially the sum of your habits.
5. God is far more interested in what you are than in what you do.

Chapter 23: How We Grow

1. God wants us to grow up ... like Christ in everything.
2. Spiritual growth is not automatic. It takes an intentional commitment.
3. We become whatever we are committed to.
4. Change your autopilot-the way you think.
5. Thinking of others is the heart of Christlikeness and the best evidence of spiritual growth.
6. It is never too late to start growing.

Chapter 24: Transformed by Truth

1. People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.
2. The truth transforms us.
3. God's Word is unlike any other word. It is alive.
4. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
5. If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.
6. The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable!
7. The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.

Chapter 25: Transformed by Trouble

1. God has a purpose behind every problem.
2. Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days.
3. We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
4. Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance.
5. Let the process go on until your endurance is fully developed, and you will find that you have become men of mature character ... with no weak spots.
6. What do you want me to learn? Then trust God and keep on doing what's right.

Chapter 26: Growing through Temptation

1. Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.
2. God develops the fruit of the Spirit by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you're tempted to express the exact opposite quality!
3. Temptation is a sign that Satan hates you, not a sign of weakness or worldliness.
4. When temptation strikes, you don't have time for a long conversation with God; you simply cry out.
5. Every time you defeat a temptation, you become more like Jesus!

Chapter 27: Defeating Temptation

1. Run from anything that gives you the evil thoughts ... but stay close to anything that makes you want to do right.
2. There is always a way out.
3. The battle for sin is won or lost in your mind. Whatever gets your attention will get you.
4. Ignoring a temptation is far more effective than fighting it.
5. Don't repress it; confess it! Don't conceal it; reveal it. Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing.
6. The truth is, whatever you can't talk about is already out of control in your life.
7. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.

Chapter 28: It Takes Time

1. There are no shortcuts to maturity.
2. While we worry about how fast we grow, God is concerned about how strong we grow.
3. There is no growth without change, no change without fear or loss, and no loss without pain.
4. When God wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight, but when he wants to make a giant oak, he takes a hundred years.
5. Remember how far you've come, not just how far you have to go.

Chapter 29: Accepting Your Assignment

1. You were put on earth to make a contribution.
2. You were created to serve God.
3. He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose.
4. Spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. We grow up in order to give out.
5. Jesus came 'to serve' and 'to give'-and those two verbs should define your life on earth, too.
6. Service is the pathway to real significance.
7. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it.

Chapter 30: Shaped for Serving God

1. You were shaped to serve God.
2. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
3. God never wastes anything.
4. Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others.
5. When you are doing what you love to do, no one has to motivate you.

Chapter 31: Understanding Your Shape

1. Only you can be you.
2. All of our abilities come from God.
3. Every ability can be used for God's glory.
4. God never wastes a hurt!
5. If God hasn't given you the ability to carry a tune, he isn't going to expect you to be an opera singer.
6. You will be most effective when you use your spiritual gifts and abilities in the area of your heart's desire.

Chapter 32: Using What God Gave You

1. What you are is God's gift to you; what you do with yourself is your gift to God.
2. God deserves your best.
3. The best use of your life is to serve God out of your shape.
4. Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to.
5. What right have you, a human being, to cross-examine God? The pot has no right to say to the potter: 'Why did you make me this shape?'
6. Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else.
7. Fail to use what you've been given and you'll lose it.
8. Take advantage of every training opportunity to develop your shape and sharpen your serving skills.

Chapter 33: How Real Servants Act

1. We serve God by serving others.
2. Servants don't fill up their time with other pursuits that could limit their availability.
3. Real servants pay attention to needs.
4. Servants never say, 'One of these days' or 'When the time is right.' They just do what needs to be done.
5. Real servants maintain a low profile.
6. In heaven God is going to openly reward some of his most obscure and unknown servants.

Chapter 34: Thinking Like a Servant

1. Servants think more about others than about themselves.
2. Real servants don't try to use God for their purposes. They let God use them for his purposes.
3. The quality of self-forgetfulness, like faithfulness, is extremely rare.
4. Servants think about their work, not what others are doing.
5. Servants base their identity in Christ.
6. Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation.

Chapter 35: God's Power in Your Weakness

1. God loves to use weak people.
2. My power shows up best in weak people.
3. If God only used perfect people, nothing would ever get done.
4. When you think of the limitation in your life, you may be tempted to conclude, 'God could never use me.' But God is never limited by our limitations.
5. I am quite content with my weaknesses.
6. Your greatest life messages and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts.
7. Ministry begins with vulnerability.
8. Glory in your weaknesses.

Chapter 36: Made for a Mission

1. You were made for a mission.
2. Your mission is a continuation of Jesus' mission on earth.
3. Your mission is a wonderful privilege.
4. Telling others how they can have eternal life is the greatest thing you can do for them.
5. Your mission has eternal significance.
6. If you fail to fulfill your God-given mission on earth, you will have wasted the life God gave you.
7. In his lifetime, Dad built over 150 churches around the world.
8. Save one more for Jesus!

Chapter 37: Sharing Your Life Message

1. Your lives are echoing the Master's word ....The news of your faith in God is out. We don't even have to say anything anymore -you're the message!
2. You may feel you don't have anything to share, but that's the Devil trying to keep you silent. You have a storehouse of experiences that God wants to use to bring others into his family.
3. Sharing your testimony is an essential part of your mission on earth because it is unique. There is no other story just like yours, so only you can share it. If you don't share it, it will be lost forever.
4. The best way to 'be ready' is to write out your testimony and then memorize the main points.
5. God is a passionate God. He passionately loves some things and passionately hates other things.
6. The eternal salvation of a single soul is more important than anything else you will ever achieve in life.
7. As long as you know one person who doesn't know Christ, you must keep praying for them, serving them in love, and sharing the Good News.
8. Imagine the joy of greeting people in heaven whom you helped get there.

Chapter 38: Becoming a World-Class Christian

1. The Great Commission is your commission.
2. You will be either a world-class Christian or a worldly Christian.
3. Their joy, confidence, and enthusiasm are contagious because they know they're making a difference.
4. It's a small world after all, and it's shrinking daily.
5. The only barrier is the way we think.
6. Shift from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking.
7. Prayer is the most important tool for your mission in the world.
8. You will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.
9. Let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back.
10. If you want to be like Jesus, you must have a heart for the whole world.

Chapter 39: Balancing Your Life

1. Blessed are the balanced; they shall outlast everyone.
2. A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will make you a great Christian.
3. The best way to internalize the principles in this book is to discuss them with others in a small-group setting.
4. Give yourself a regular spiritual check-up.
5. Writing helps clarify what God is doing in your life.
6. If you want to keep growing, the best way to learn more is to pass on what you have already learned.
7. It's crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we've heard so that we don't drift off.
8. You owe it to future generations to preserve the testimony of how God helped you fulfill his purposes on earth.

Chapter 40: Living with Purpose

1. Living on purpose is the only way to really live. Everything else is just existing.
2. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.
3. David served God's purpose in his generation.
4. What will be the center of my life?
5. What will be the character of my life?
6. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
7. When God's at the center of your life, you worship. When he's not, you worry.
8. Our purpose is to please God, not people.