Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, the best-selling nonfiction book in publishing history, made an appearance on OWN network’s “Oprah’s Lifeclass” on Sunday, where he compared life to a poker game.
Warren explained the five "cards" on our hands are the different aspects of a person's identity—chemistry, connections, circumstances, consciousness and choice, of which the first four you have no control of them.
“The cards we are dealt are the things we don't have control over. I didn't choose where I was born, when I was born, I didn't choose my gender, my parents, my race, my natural abilities, my natural weaknesses, but a wise player can even play what seems to be a weak hand, and win the game. There are ways to take what you are given and make the most out of it," said Warren, who is the founder of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, that has an average weekly attendance of 20,000 people.
He further explained that the fifth card is the only card that you can control. It is the card that can either make or break the entire hand.
Warren concluded that people have a choice to listen to the Word, or to the world.
At the end, the evangelical Christian pastor gives the audience a "homework assignment" by telling them to open up the Bible and start reading the Book of John.
"You are a product of your past, but you are not a prisoner of your past. It has influence over you, but it's just one of the cards," he said, adding that reading the Book of John can help them come to that realization.
