What Are You Living For? , livre ebook

PRAISE FOR
WHAT ARE YOU LIVING FOR?
Pat Williams’s new book points the way to a life filled with meaning and purpose. I’ll be recommending What Are You Living For? to many people for years to come.
GARY L. BAUER
Chairman, Campaign for Working Families President, American Values
What a great book! In a time when someone has “changed the price tags” on what’s valuable and what isn’t, it is so refreshing to get back to the basics of what life is really about and what really matters. That would be enough, but to say it in such a refreshing manner is a gift. Read this book, and you will owe me for having recommended it to you.
STEVE BROWN
President, Key Life Network
When Pat Williams writes, trust me, you want to listen. What Are You Living For? is a very powerful book, and I found Pat’s counsel extremely applicable in my personal battle against the common temptations of this fallen world. It won’t be long before I reread it.
PAUL BYRD
Pitcher, Cleveland Indians
Few men in America are learners and leaders like Pat Williams. Pat is committed to helping people invest their lives in what really matters. His family life and career model what really matter. If you are ready to grow, be stretched and pursue the true priorities of life, read this book. The world needs what Pat Williams has lived and written about.
DR. RONNIE W. FLOYD
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas
If your life lacks meaning, significance and direction, you have picked up the right book. Pat Williams has been where you are and knows how you feel. In these pages, he points the way to a life filled with purpose and hope.
BILL GAITHER
Gospel singer and songwriter
When Pat Williams writes it, I read it! Once again, this splendid communicator describes life at its best and gives us vivid illustrations as to how we can live abundantly and effectively for Christ.
JACK GRAHAM
Senior Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano, Texas
Pat Williams has done it again! He’s written a remarkable book that makes one stop and remember what is really important in life—and what isn’t!
GOVERNOR MIKE HUCKABEE
2008 Republican presidential candidate
What Are You Living For? reminds me so much of the apostle Paul’s exhortation to young Timothy when he told him what to pursue—and what not to pursue. Pat Williams has done us a favor in talking about the things we chase after that are equivalent to grasping the wind in our hands, while showing us the things we should pursue that would not only be worth living for but also worth dying for. Read and be blessed!
JOHNNY HUNT
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia
After a lifetime of leadership in business and sports, Pat Williams has written a book about character and faith in Jesus Christ that is suffused with wisdom and wit. What Are You Living For? provides powerful lessons, drawn from real life, about real heroes and stunning failures. Throughout it all, Pat leads the reader toward life’s greatest laurel and deepest magic: a profound relationship with the God who made us.
TONY PERKINS
President, Family Research Council
What Are You Living For? will cause you to think deeply about every facet of your life. Do not rush through this important book. Read it, reflect on it, and then apply the results.
JIM RYUN
United States Congressman and three-time Olympian
The great thing about this book is that it teaches you what matters most about living. Pat Williams asks the right questions about life so that you can live the right answers before it’s too late.
DR. DAVID UTH
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Orlando, Florida
As a successful leader in the powerful world of professional basketball, Pat Williams has unique insight to address the question, What Are You Living For? He knows the game of fortune, fame and pleasure and how it leaves its players empty-handed when they lack deeper reasons for living. Pat’s winsome influence has been a great encouragement to many, and I know his book will offer you lasting direction and hope.
RAVI ZACHARIAS
Author and speaker
WHAT ARE YOU LIVING FOR?

© 2008 Pat Williams and Jim Denney
Published by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com
Revell edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-2613-6
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Other versions used are:
KJV — King James Version. Authorized King James Version.
NKJV —Scripture taken from the New King James Version . Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
NLT —Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
In memory of Dr. Wendell Kempton, friend and mentor, and a true role model of character, influence, parenting and faith
CONTENTS

Foreword by Tom Osborne

1. What Are You Living For?
2. Chasing Fortune
3. Chasing Fame
4. Chasing Power
5. Chasing Pleasure
6. Pursue Good Character
7. Pursue Influence
8. Pursue Parenthood
9. Pursue Faith
10. What Are You Dying For?

Endnotes
Acknowledgments
Author Contact
FOREWORD
By Tom Osborne
What are you living for?
Great question.
You’ve got to admire someone who asks the tough questions. And that’s what Pat Williams does in this book.
What are you living for?
Can you think of a more important question than that? Whether you are young or old and no matter where you live or what you do in life, you need to deal head-on with this question. Your answer will determine whether you are living a life of meaning and significance, or just marking time until you die.
You might say, “Well, I’m young, I’m building my career, and I’m enjoying life. I’m doing fine. Don’t bother me with philosophical questions.”
Life is short. It passes in the blink of an eye. You think you’ve got all the time in the world, and then suddenly you turn around and wonder where your life went. If you think your goals of a good career and a lot of shiny possessions will give your life meaning, you’re destined for disappointment.
If you’re only living to make a reputation for yourself, or to acquire wealth and status, or to enjoy all of life’s pleasures—then you are wasting the gift of your one and only irreplaceable life.
Life is uncertain. You could be eating all the right foods, getting plenty of exercise, staying trim and fit, and tomorrow you might be diagnosed with a terminal illness or be killed on the freeway. Or the economy could go south, taking your brilliant career, your nice house and your expensive car along with it.
If everything you’re living for turns to dust and ashes, what then?
You can’t wait until “someday” to find your purpose in life. You can’t wait until tragedy strikes before you get serious about living a life of significance. It’s time for you to pause, turn these pages, and consider the question, What are you living for?
Pat Williams, the man who asks you that question, has been where you are. In this book, he lays his life open and tells you about his ambitions as a young man—how he was chasing money, fame, power and pleasure. And he not only pursued them all, but he had them all! In his mid-twenties, he was an up-and-coming professional sports executive, making good money, driving a big car and attracting attention in the national sports media. He was a big success at an early age, and he was heading for even bigger things.
But he was empty inside. He knew something was wrong with his life, but he couldn’t say what it was or even give it a name.
Maybe this story sounds familiar. Maybe this is your story.
The good news is that something happened to Pat Williams. The eyes of that ambitious young sports executive were opened to a deeper and wider reality. I won’t give away the story here; I want you to read it for yourself. But for now, just take my word for it: You need to read this book. Pat Williams not only asks the question “What are you living for?” but also shares with you the answer he has found.
This book is filled with stories that will grip you at a deep level. It’s also packed with life-changing principles and insights you can put into practice right now. I believe you’ll find your life and your thinking being changed long before you reach the final chapter.
So I commend this book—and this question—to you: What are you living for?
Tom Osborne Athletic Director, University of Nebraska Head Football Coach, Nebraska Cornhuskers (1973 to 1997) Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nebraska, 3rd Congressional District (2000 to 2006)
1

WHAT ARE YOU LIVING FOR?
As this book was nearing completion, I went to Boston to run in the Boston Marathon. While there, I visited my son Thomas, who is a senior accountant with the Red Sox organization. He got tickets for his brother and me for a Sunday afternoon game, the day before the Marathon. So there we were, Thomas, his twin brother, Stephen, and old Dad at Fenway Park, watching the Red Sox take on the visiting Texas Rangers.
I was shaking a handful of sunflower seeds into my palm when I heard the stadium announcer say, “Now batting for the Rangers—Josh Hamil