What does God want from us?

I have been reading "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. I am gaining some insight into the purpose of my life. I have learned somethings, and somethings I have been reminded of by reading this book. today is chapter 13. the thirteenth day of my 40 day journey to find out my true purpose in Life. Hopefully as the book promises, I will know what exactly is my purpose in this life on earth by the end of the book.

The following is the things I have found important about our purpose in Life from the book.

God created us to love us. He wants communion with him. And I'm not just talking about the act of "communion"by recieving the body (bread) and the wine (blood) of Christ. I am talking about the fact that God wants us to love him. He wants us to talk to him like he is sitting right next to us. He wants to be our best friend.

And He wants us to worship him. And by "worship" I dont mean the music and singing session of church on sunday mornings. He wants us to do anything and everything with him in mind. That is what the Bible means when it was said in Deuteronomy 6:5 " And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. " We are supposed to bring Glory and Praise to God with the way we live our lives and the things we do in our lives. Rick Warren wrote "we should have the love of God in our mind not only while in church, praying or praising God, but we should have Him in mind while doing even menial tasks such as doing dishes, laundry, or dusting."

God wants us to love him the way he loves us. And wants us to draw close in to a relationship with Him. God doesnt just want us to pray the prayer of salvation and or get baptised and go to church. Those things are just the beggining of our walk with Christ. In fact you can be a Christian without going to church but you cant be a Christian if you are not tryin to get in a closer relationship with God. I mean you can, but your walk with Christ will be stunted, therefore rendering your spiritual life almost completely lifeless. To add to that; (paraphrased by Rick Warren in "the purpose driven life" Our life on earth is just temporary. It is a test to determine two things: One being whether or not we go to heaven. The second being what our job will be in Heaven )

So surrender your life completely to God and you will reap the best thing of all, which is a relationship with God so close, that it will never end and you will be with him in eternity.
I will leave you with a verse I find very encouraging; Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things."