Driven-ness.

Quite a while ago now, a friend gave me the book The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren, and it has been sitting in the back seat of my car ever since. I have not yet read even one chapter of it, and today I am sitting here drinking coffee and sort of asking myself “Why?”
Why have I not yet felt like reading this book, even though I have read tons of other books since this one was given to me as a gift?
There are probably only very few of you readers who have not at least heard of this book. The sub-title is “What On Earth Am I Here For?” Since its release in 2002 it has gone on to sell well over 20 million copies and is still going strong. [And everyone over at Zondervan Publishing said a hearty “Amen!”] It has the distinction of being (get this now) the #1 best-selling hardback non-fiction book of all time. In the history of.... books! I find that incredibly fascinating. It has been named one of the 100 Christian Books That Changed The 20th Century.
And I still haven’t read it?
Why?

This may sound lame, but I think that part of the reason is because of that word in the title: Driven.
I am not so sure that I want to be driven. Even if it’s Purpose-Driven. I can’t help but link the term driven-ness with the image of hard-working oxen or horses. Beasts that have had a yoke or burden placed upon them which they would rather not have to pull or carry, had they been given a choice in the matter. Someone could argue “Yes, but soon they come to accept it as their daily duty, their lot in life.” And I might reply, “How much the worse, to become so accustomed to being driven that you begin to imagine it as the desirable state of affairs.”
But this is semantics, really. The deeper reason I believe the book has remained in the back seat of my car is because I am afraid that to really apply its contents to my life would require a deep down “sold out” commitment and devotion to Christianity which I no longer seem to possess. I once did, I once knew this “sold-outness.” But I find that now, (the me of the year 2005) as I flip through the book at random, I am landing time and again at pages that do not resonate within me... do not make me say “Yes... tell me more!” In fact, very often, I downright disagree. A case in point... I have just randomly flipped (honestly now, I had not even pre-chosen this page, I just randomly flipped around and blammo, a perfect example emerged in three seconds)... on page 284, Warren says “One problem long-term Christians have is that they forget how hopeless it felt to be without Christ. We must remember that no matter how contented or successful people appear to be, without Christ they are hopelessly lost and headed for eternal separation from God.”
See, I disagree with both of those statements. Firstly, I have known, and continue to know, Christians who are actually quite dismal. Negative. Hard to even be around. “Hopefulness” is not something that they readily exude out of their very pores, as is being suggested here. In fact, one could ask “If being Christian is such a hope-inducing endeavor, why is it that the ‘long-term’ ones seem to forget it?” Granted, most Christians are great people... hopeful, full of joy, and all. The point is that there are also many people that would not know the first thing about what it means to be “in Christ” and they also are the most hopeful and lovely people you could ever meet! Warren is making it sound as though any one who is not a Christian is morose and semi-suicidal.
Secondly, the next statement he makes is much worse than the first. But it is typical of a very narrow-mindedness that pervades ALL religions (not just Christianity) the closer their adherants move toward a fundamentalist attitude!
Our Path is straight... and yours is all crooked.
I am not even going to talk about this. [For now].

But, moving on, I’ve read a bit about Rick Warren, and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. I have not the slightest desire to criticise him, in fact, I think that everything I have ever heard about him (except several aspects of his theology) is simply outstanding and admirable. Immediately upon graduating from seminary, Rick Warren was offered a pastorate in Texas at a church whose congregation numbered 5,000.
In his mind, this was too small for him... too restrictive, so he did not accept the position, but went to start his own work, from the ground up. And from very humble pre-cathedral-Robert Schuller-like beginnings, he started a sort of house-church (actually, a condo-church), and today, (long-story short) he is senior pastor of a congregation of over 20,000. They have 175 paid pastors on staff.
That is impressive. In fact, I find it utterly amazing... Isaiah-like... or Apostle-Paul-like. He is the Sam Walton or the Ray Croc (if you will) of church-building and church-planting.
[By the way... just an aside here, really digressing now, but even the phrase “Purpose-Driven” is copyrighted. It is a trademark. There is a little wee “R” in a circle beside the words wherever they appear in print when in context of anything Warren-ish. I find this a wee bit overcooked... a bit ridiculous... maybe even a bit, what is the word? Like Donald Trump copyrighting the phrase “You’re fired!” What is the word for that? It is the same with the Christian series of poorly-written apocolyptic novels by Lahaye and Jenkins... the Left Behind series. Same thing. The little “R”. And while we’re at it, Bruce Wilkinson’s smash Christian hit The Prayer of Jabez and all of its related Jabezian things... again, totally copyrighted. This means that if you get your Grandma a set of Prayer of Jabez potholders for Christmas, there will be that little “R” beside the phrase Prayer of Jabez. Something to me just seems out of whack with such vigorous, vehement, Lawyer-Driven commercialism in the Christian marketplace.]

But let’s return to that word “driven” now. There is no way that any of this happened (Saddleback Church) without an incredibly focused and DRIVEN (yes, Purpose-Driven) personality at the helm. A similar thing could be said of the plethora of Wal-Marts and MacDonalds that dot our landscape. These businesses exist because of driven personalities. I am typing on this laptop computer because of a driven personality who made it possible for me to do so.
But this “driven-ness” is not in me! I am just not that ambitious.
If I were the graduate in the story... I would have went to that church in Texas and felt really fulfilled about that. I would have relaxed on my Fridays or Mondays off, not dreamt about how I could plant ten more churches.
I don’t want to be driven. Even to greatness.

Having said all of this, I acknowledge that I may be completely out to lunch about this book.
About the purpose of this Purpose-book.
Perhaps it isn’t about striving..... about learning to welcome the fact that after you’ve plowed that field like an ox, you are to joyfully trot on to the next field and continue plowing!
Never good enough never good enough never good enough, never finished!
That is the attitude that I guess I want to avoid in ALL my reading of anything that has religious / spiritual content.

Please educate me on this book. I know you’ve read the thing.
Comment here and let me know your opinion as to whether I should dig the thing out of the back seat! Tell me what Purpose-Driven [little “R”] living has done for you.