This isn’t true of the animal kingdom. My dog doesn’t sit around and contemplate the meaning of life. I am quite sure he doesn’t think to himself, There is an emptiness in my life right now. It cannot be filled by chasing cats or eating road kill. There must be more to life than this. No, he lies around and sleeps, and if any topic does occupy his thoughts, it’s eating.

I have a personal theory about my dog, and maybe all dogs in general: He thinks I am there to serve him. Why wouldn’t he think that? Look at the way his life goes. Does he go to work every day? No, he just sleeps. Does he bring home money? No, he costs money. Does he do yard work? No, he fertilizes the yard.

Animals don’t think about the meaning of life because animals are not created in the image of God. But we are. This is a unique trait of human beings. We are not evolved from animals, as some would assert. We were created by God in his very image.

The Bible says that because of this, God has placed eternity in our hearts. This means that deep inside of every man, woman, boy and girl, there’s a sense that there has to be more to life than this, a sense there is some meaning, purpose or significance to life.

The reason many people today, especially young people, kill themselves is because of hopelessness. They don’t know what they are living for. They don’t know what their life is all about.

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In his book “Made for Heaven: And Why on Earth It Matters,” C. S. Lewis wrote, “All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of [heaven] – tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. … It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want.”

To loosely paraphrase, there is nothing in this world that will fill the hole in our soul – no sexual experience, no drug, no relationship, no amount of success and no possession. There still will be something that whispers, “There is more to life than this.”

The real thing Lewis was alluding to is what we were created for. It is the drive to know the God who made us.

Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3 NIV).

Also, the prophet Jeremiah delivered these words from God Himself: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord …” (Jeremiah 9:23–24).

That is what we are here for: to know God.

But before we can truly know God, we have to first know about God. Learning about God is called theology. “Theology,” simply translated, means the study of God. People who don’t want to get into theology might end up worshiping the wrong God. They might end up believing the wrong thing.

Again, C. S. Lewis said, “If you do not listen to theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones – bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas.”

This is what we need to be careful of: that we do not have the wrong ideas about God.

Before we can know what right and wrong are, we have to know who God is. Morality is based on spirituality. Spirituality is based on a relationship with God. And if we don’t know God, hence knowing what life is about and what our purpose is, then we won’t know right from wrong.

When we become the judges of what right and wrong are, we have essentially made ourselves the moral center of the universe. This is called moral relativism. And I believe the problems in our culture, to a large degree, can be directly traced to a lack of absolutes, to moral relativism.

We have all heard the statements: “What is true for you is not necessarily true for me” or “One man’s art is another person’s pornography” or “There are no objective morals, just differing opinions.” Or how about this one? “No culture is better or worse than another.” And then we have this little chestnut from the ’60s: “If it feels good, do it.”

The reason people do such appalling things is because they don’t have a moral compass. And the reason they don’t have a moral compass is because they don’t have a relationship with God.

Throughout the world today, wrong seems to be right and right seems to be wrong. The words of the prophet Isaiah are just as relevant to our culture as they were when he originally spoke them: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).

One survey found that 67 percent of Americans believe there is no such thing as absolute truth. Why is that such a big deal? Because if we don’t believe in absolute truth, the result is chaos.

The stability and the security we desire in life are found in knowing God and then walking with him – and not anywhere else.

King Jehoshaphat felt that way. In his Old Testament story, his enemies had greatly outnumbered him. Then they joined forces with other enemies of Israel. They were coming to destroy him and his people, and he had no way to defend himself. There Jehoshaphat stood with the women and children, basically defenseless. His heart was gripped with fear.

So what did Jehoshaphat do? ‘Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him’ (2 Chronicles 20:3-4 NIV).

Then Jehoshaphat stood up before the assembly that was gathered at the temple and prayed, ‘Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you’ (verse 12 NIV).

That is a good place to be. Sometimes we think it is the worst place to be. I don’t know what to do. … I don’t have any money left. … I have used up all of my credit cards. Now all I can do is trust God (as though that is the worst-case scenario).

In reality, when you are backed into a corner like that and all you can do is trust God, he will get the glory when he comes through.

Jesus’ disciples found themselves in a situation like that one day, out on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had just performed his most popular miracle to date: the feeding of the 5,000. The people wanted to take Jesus by force and make him their king, and Jesus, knowing what their intent was, withdrew from the crowds and sent the disciples away, across the Sea of Galilee.

Meanwhile, Jesus went up to a mountain to pray. And as the disciples were making their way across, a fierce storm came up on the sea, a storm that was so bad that they began to despair of their lives. And though they couldn’t see Jesus, he could see them. And he was concerned for them.

Matthew’s Gospel says that he came to them in the fourth watch of the night. The fourth watch is the last part of the night, that time right before dawn. This means the disciples had probably been at sea for about nine grueling hours before Jesus showed up.

Mark’s Gospel adds this detail, which seems almost humorous: ‘[Jesus] came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by’ (6:48 NKJV). It was so nonchalant. There they were, thinking they were going to die. And suddenly there was Jesus, walking on the water – as though he were about to go right past them.

Needless to say, the disciples would not let him do that. And when Jesus came on board, he calmed the storm, and immediately they reached their destination.

The point is that Jesus wanted them to call out to him. Could they believe that he would deliver them in a situation even that drastic?

The same is true for us. Jesus is waiting for us to invite him on board. Maybe we are in a storm in life. Maybe we are going through some kind of a hardship that we have brought upon ourselves because of the foolish things we have done or the mistakes that we have made in life.

Jesus is waiting for us to ask him into our lives, to ask him to come on board.

God is not only interested in the big things of our lives, but he is also interested in the small ones. Sometimes we dismiss those things as trivial and insignificant, but if they are troubling you, then they are of concern to God. I love what the psalmist wrote, ‘You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me’ (Psalm 56:8-9).

If it is burdening you, if it is troubling you, then God is concerned about it. Nothing is too big or too small for him.

Some might say, “That is interesting, but I don’t really know that I need Jesus Christ right now. Maybe when some kind of crisis hits. Maybe when I am facing some sort of a problem. I think it is good that you Christians have found your religion and your faith in God. That is good for you. But things are going pretty well for me right now. My bills are paid. I even have some money in the bank. My stomach is full. My health is good. My future is bright.”

My response to that is be careful. Jesus told the story of a man who had done very well in business. He was so successful that he had to build bigger buildings to store all of his possessions. In fact, he said to himself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19 NIV).

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (verse 20 NIV).

We never know when that day will come when God will say, “This very night your life will be demanded from you.” What if this were the night? What if this were your last night on Earth, and you were given no other opportunities to believe?

The same Jesus who walked with his disciples on the water in the midst of the storm, waiting to be invited into their boat, is also waiting to be invited into yours. The only thing that stops him from coming into your life is your personal invitation.

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In reality, the message would probably go something along the lines of, “This is not a test of the Emergency Broadcasting System. This is the real thing. There is a nuclear meltdown in your area and you are worm food at this time. Have a nice day.” Those broadcasts are to remind us that the real thing could be coming.

God will give tests as well. He will bring tests into our lives to see whether we are learning the material he is seeking to teach us. Often we think that we know more than we really know. We think that we have certain areas down and don’t need any further instruction in them. We think that we have learned to walk by faith, that we have learned to trust God. But sometimes God will retest us, and we will be shocked to find that we don’t know as much as we thought we knew.

God bring tests in our lives so we will learn the lessons that He is trying to teach us and so we will advance spiritually and not remain forever in spiritual kindergarten.

It reminds me of how a mother eagle will teach her eaglets to fly. When it comes time for them to fly, the mother has an unorthodox method of encouraging it. She basically will kick the eaglets out of the nest. That is a long drop, because eagles tend to go to the highest branches and peaks to build their nests. After the mother kicks the eaglet out of the nest, she waits until it has dropped down about 90 feet or more before she swoops down and scoops up the little bird, puts it back into the nest, and then kicks it out again.

Sometimes something like that will happen to us. We are sitting comfortably in our little nest. Everything is going well. And all of the sudden, God will give us a little boot and we are in a free fall. We think it is all going to end. Then he swoops down and picks us up.

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Why does God do that? He wants us to grow up spiritually. He wants us to learn how to fly. He wants us to learn that he is who he says he is. He wants us to trust him, even when we don’t understand him. He wants us to be patient with him, even when he doesn’t work on our schedules. He wants us to grow up and be strong spiritually.

The book of James gives us this little insight about tests and trials: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2–4 NTL).

When a trial comes, when hardship comes, when temptation comes, we tend to say, “Not this again!” Don’t we understand that it is an opportunity to grow? It is an opportunity to learn.

God doesn’t want fair-weather followers. He doesn’t want to be thought of as some celestial Big Buddy up in heaven. Nor does he want us to follow him because it makes us feel better about ourselves or because we need “a little religion” in our lives. He wants us to follow him because we love him and want to know him.

During Jesus’ ministry on earth, he knew that people were following him for the wrong reasons and with the wrong motives, and he intentionally did things and said things to thin out the ranks. That may come as a surprise to us, but it is true.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 NKJV, emphasis added). Notice that he did not say, “Give us this year our yearly bread,” or “Give us this month our monthly bread,” or even “Give us this week our weekly bread.” Rather, it is “Give us this day our daily bread.”

When Jesus taught us to pray that way, he was showing us that we need to be dependent on God. We need to be looking to the Lord to provide the things we need.

But before the petition for daily bread, Jesus said to first pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (verses 9–10). Before we offer a word of personal petition, we are to contemplate the greatness and awesomeness of God and let it sink in. And I suggest to you that after you do this, you may change what you are about to pray. As you think of God and his greatness, you will see your problem in perspective.

Many times we diminish God in our minds as to how great he is, and we blow our problems out of proportion, making them far worse than they are. What we need to do is get things in their proper perspective and see how great and powerful our God is. It will help us to see our problems for what they are: things that can be resolved by God.

So when God gives a test, when that trial comes your way, don’t treat it as an intruder, but welcome it as a friend. It is an opportunity for God to show his power in your life. It is an opportunity for you to learn things that you need to learn.

Then, all of a sudden, the sun would come out, the clouds would part, and it would be over. If you didn’t like the weather, you could wait 15 minutes, and it probably would change.

Life can be like that. You can be in the midst of a horrible storm, with everything going as badly as it possibly could, and suddenly the clouds open up, the sun comes out, and your life is doing wonderfully.

Then again, it can be just the opposite. Everything is going your way, and suddenly the bottom drops out. A tragedy happens. A loved one dies. The doctor’s office calls and says you have to come in immediately; they just got the results of your tests. Your boss calls you in and says that the company is downsizing, and your position has been eliminated. Life can change that quickly.

The Bible tells the story of two people for whom life changed very quickly. Their problems were very different, but they had one common need.

One of them was a poor, helpless, broken-down and discouraged woman. Her life grew more miserable by the day, and an end to her troubles was nowhere in sight. She had been sick for 12 years and had spent all of her money to get her health back, but to no avail.

In contrast, the other principal character in this story, Jairus, was a man of great power and prestige. He was a man who had it all together – that is, until his beloved daughter became gravely ill.

Twelve years is a significant amount of time for both of these two hurting people in this story. This poor woman had been in poor health for 12 years, while Jairus’ daughter had been alive for 12 years. While this young girl had probably experienced 12 years of relative happiness, this sick woman had experienced 12 years of pain, rejection and tears.

So when Jairus, a man of power, position and prestige, saw his daughter grow sicker by the day, he was alarmed because there was nothing he could do. But he knew that Jesus was around.

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I don’t know whether Jairus was a believer in Jesus at this point. But he knew that Jesus was the one who could touch his daughter. Maybe he had a basic faith that he was beginning to exercise. So he found Jesus, and they went on their way to Jairus’ house to see his sick little girl. I think Jairus must have been filled with hope, thinking, Everything is going to be all right. I have Jesus here. He will do something special.

But suddenly this woman arrived on the scene, touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was instantly healed. Jesus stopped immediately and said, “Who touched me?”

Who didn’t touch him? Jesus was thronged by people, with everyone milling and moving around him. But Jesus knew that power had gone out of him. Someone had tapped into it, and he wanted to know who it was.

But Jesus did not want to rebuke the woman; he wanted to commend her. He pointed to the great faith that she had and gave her a reassuring word.

Jairus could have been impatient while all this was going on. He could have said, “Lord, excuse me. In all fairness, I am glad that you care about this woman, but my daughter is dying. Could you get to my house first and then come back and talk with her?” But Jairus didn’t say that.

Maybe he knew this was the modus operandi of Jesus, if you will. The Lord was always taking care of the underdogs and the hurting people. He had sought out that demon-possessed man. He was there with the Samaritan woman and sought out the tax collector Zacchaeus up in the tree in Jericho. He was always going to society’s rejects. Maybe Jairus knew a little bit about that because he did not protest.

Sometimes it looks as though the Lord is not listening to us and has put an obstacle in our path. He wants us to rise to the occasion. He wants us to exercise our faith. He wants us to step forward and not give up so easily.

Yet so many of us do. We ask the Lord to do something, and he doesn’t do it. So we say, “Forget it!” Be persistent. The woman was. And Jairus, if he was being tested, certainly came through this with flying colors. He realized that this was not an interruption, but an opportunity. He not only accepted Jesus, but also His timing.

This is where a lot of people have trouble with God. But as I have said many times, there are three ways that God answers prayer: Yes, no and wait. I hate the answer wait. Who wants to wait?

But here is what we need to be careful of. Don’t try to take matters into your own hands, because you can make a bigger mess of it.

Jesus does not ask for our understanding of his ways and timing; he asks for our trust. He got this from the desperately ill woman and from Jairus. What about you?

God’s delays are not necessarily God’s denials. Sometimes he doesn’t give us what we are asking for because he wants to give us something far better at a later time. Can you trust that God knows what He is doing? Then wait on him for his perfect timing.

The lake itself is well below sea level, surrounded by mountains with deep ravines. Those ravines serve as gigantic funnels that bring winds whirling down on the lake without notice. The gales are strengthened by a thermal buildup in the extremely low valley that draws the cold air violently downward. Because of its unique geography, its perils are infamous The lake is constantly being whipped up into storms at a moment’s notice.

In the Gospels, we read about a violent storm that struck while Jesus and his disciples were on the Sea of Galilee. The Amplified Bible describes it this way: “A whirlwind revolving from below upwards swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in great danger” (Luke 8:23).

You can be sure that if these guys were scared, it was a serious storm. They had their sea legs. Most of them had spent their lives on the Sea of Galilee. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t have been troubled by a storm of this magnitude. But because it continued to grow more violent, they became very concerned.

In the Bible, storms are often a picture of adversity or hardship that can come into our lives. Generally when a storm comes, we want it to go away. So we pray, and God may remove that storm. But then there are other times when God will strengthen us through the storms. And sometimes these storms are the direct result of our own actions.

There are three types of storms that can blow into our lives.

First, there are correcting storms. We find this illustrated in the story of Jonah. God had given him a job to do: Go to Nineveh and preach. But being a patriotic Israelite, he did not want to go and preach to his avowed enemy that wanted to destroy him. So he intentionally disobeyed God’s orders, because he felt that if he did not go to Nineveh and preach to its people, then God would judge them, and Israel would have one less enemy to worry about.

But God was very persistent. And as Jonah caught a boat that was going in the opposite direction of Nineveh, a great storm came. Everyone began to call upon their respective gods, except for Jonah. They came and woke him up and pressed him to call on his God as well.

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This was a correcting storm that came as a direct result of Jonah’s disobedience. And when he obeyed and did what God wanted him to do, the storm stopped. God caught Jonah’s attention.

This can happen in our lives as well. Maybe we are going in a wrong direction, when suddenly it all blows up in our face. We wonder, Why has this happened to me? What have I done to deserve this? We brought it on ourselves. That is a correcting storm.

The question is, will we learn from our mistakes? In Jonah’s case, he repented and went in the right direction.

Maybe the reason a certain storm in our lives continues is because we haven’t learned anything. And until we change, that storm most likely will continue to rage.

Then there are protecting storms. These are storms designed to protect us from something far worse. In three of the Gospels we read of the time when Jesus came to his disciples, walking on the water during a great storm. The events that preceded that particular incident are important. Jesus had performed what was probably his most popular miracle, the feeding of the five thousand. His followers swelled after he pulled that one off. It is one thing to restore sight, but a free lunch? Now we’re talking. Everybody wanted to follow Jesus. They wanted to go wherever he went. So he crossed over to the other side of Galilee, essentially to ditch these crowds who just wanted a free meal. And he sent his disciples ahead and told them to cross to the other side of the lake. But then a great storm erupted. And Jesus came to them, walking on the water.

Why did he send his disciples away and into a storm? He was protecting them from something worse. What was worse? The adulation of the multitudes. After Jesus performed that particular miracle, the people wanted to make him king by force. Jesus knew the disciples would be caught up in the excitement, because they were always arguing about who was going to be greatest in the kingdom. This would go to their heads and potentially destroy them.

You might be going through a hardship right now, and you’re upset with God. But it could be a protecting storm that is keeping you from something far worse.

Lastly, there are perfecting storms. That was the case with the storm that we read of in Luke 8. Jesus allowed the disciples to go through this storm so they would learn to trust Him in spite of their circumstances.

Jesus wanted his disciples to learn something. They didn’t have to panic for two reasons: first, Jesus was on board, and second, he had said, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake” (verse 22, NIV).

If Jesus had said, “Let’s go out to the middle of the Sea of Galilee and drown together,” that is reason to panic. But Jesus said, “Let us go across to the other side.” Do you know what that means? It means they would get to the other side. He didn’t say it would be smooth sailing. But he did say that they would get to the other side.

If that is the case, it may surprise you to know that you are not alone. In fact, the greatest of the Bible’s prophets grappled with these very problems. We know him as John the Baptist.

During his earthly ministry, John the Baptist was not just significant; he was super significant. In his day, John was a figure of national prominence. In fact, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote more about John than he did about Jesus.

The reason John’s ministry was so significant was that it had ended a 400-year silence. From the time of the prophet Malachi’s death to John’s birth, Israel had not heard from a prophet for 400 years – not a single miracle, not a single angel, not a single prophet sent by the Lord.

Then the angel Gabriel appeared to John’s father, Zacharias, telling him that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would give birth to the forerunner of the Messiah. John emerged on the scene as a mega-prophet. Bold and courageous, he would stand by the Jordan River and tell the people to repent, because the kingdom of God was at hand. John had a huge following, and thousands of people would gather to hear the words of John. Some were even asking whether he was the Messiah, the one they had been waiting for.

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Then one day, Jesus, who was a cousin to John, appeared on the scene. John realized that it was time for his ministry to come to a close. John pointed to Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NIV). And John’s disciples began to follow Jesus.

John’s ministry, however, was not over. He had been speaking to King Herod, who liked to listen to John. But John was not known for subtlety. He properly accused the king of immorality, and, of course, the king didn’t take it well. So John was sent to prison because of his bold preaching to Herod.

John’s far-reaching ministry had come to a close, and he was living in relative obscurity. Even worse, Jesus did not seem to be doing what John thought he would do. John, along with others, thought that Jesus was coming to lead a revolt. They thought Jesus was coming to establish a kingdom by force. They thought Jesus would overthrow the tyranny of Rome.

But 18 long months had passed, and Jesus was not leading the revolt against Rome John was hoping for. Not only that, but he reportedly was associating with sinners and tax collectors. Things were not going according to plan. So John began to have some doubts, which might be better described as perplexity or confusion. John was not questioning the truthfulness of the word of God; he merely was having difficulty understanding what it meant in his life. In John’s case, he had misunderstood what Jesus was saying. It is not that Jesus had done something wrong. It was that John didn’t quite understand what Jesus was trying to communicate to him and to others.

John thought maybe he had made a mistake. Could this be the actual Messiah? Isn’t the Messiah supposed to establish a kingdom of righteousness? What is going on? What was going on was that John, along with others, had misunderstood the mission of Jesus. What John and the others had missed was that Jesus was coming with the express purpose of dying on the cross for the sins of humanity. He would bring deliverance to the captives, but it would be deliverance from a spiritual prison of oppression and bondage. He would bring comfort to those who were mourning, but it would be different from what John was anticipating.

I bring this up because sometimes we grow impatient with God. We think God is missing his cues, so to speak. We think he is falling short. Something will happen in our lives, and we will ask why. Tragedy hits, and we ask, What did I do to deserve this? Where did I go wrong? Is there some bad thing that God is punishing me for?

These are questions that often go through our minds – even through a committed Christian’s mind. It is not unusual for even the most spiritual people to have their days of doubt and uncertainty.

Moses was so frustrated with the Israelites on one occasion that he was ready to quit. After listening to the complaints of Israel, He said to the Lord, “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me …” (Numbers 11:14–15).

Elijah was so overwhelmed with his circumstances that when he heard that Queen Jezebel wanted him killed, he asked God to take his life.

Paul was discouraged as well. He wrote, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:8).

Maybe you are dealing with doubt and discouragement right now. But as I have said before, doubt is not always a sign that someone is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking.

But here is something we need to recognize. There is a difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is a matter of the mind. We cannot understand what God is doing and why He is doing it. Unbelief, however is different. Unbelief is a matter of the will. Unbelief is a willful choice not to believe.

These are questions every person needs to ask, because they are of the greatest importance. They are especially important for young adults as they look forward in life.

I know people my age who haven’t figured this out yet. And as the old adage says, if you aim at nothing, you are bound to hit it. I have met a lot of people who have aimed at nothing with their lives.

Some would say they never want to get old; they want to be forever young. In fact, that is the theme song of their lives. They can never have too much tofu or green tea in their diets. But they are still getting old, and they will have to deal with it. Time is passing by quickly.

So instead of wanting more time, what we really need to be asking ourselves is, what are we doing with the time we already have?

Medical science has made great strides in extending our lives through life-saving drugs and operations. And though medical science can add years to our lives, they cannot add life to our years. Only God can do that. He wants us to have a life with purpose and meaning. So living long is not necessarily the objective. Rather, the objective should be to live in such a way that we bring glory to God and find his purpose and plan for our lives.

Some years ago there was a man named Jim Eliot who went to Ecuador to preach the gospel to an indigenous tribe. He was killed in his attempt to do that. But in his journal he had written, “I seek not a long life, but a full one like you, Lord Jesus.” Jim Eliot lived a relatively short life, but it was full, and it was meaningful.

God has placed us on earth for two primary reasons. The first is to know God. Revelation 4:11 says of God, “For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased” (NLT). We are here to be in harmony and fellowship with the God who made us and to bring pleasure to him.

The second reason God has placed us on earth is to glorify him. And how do we glorify God? Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:8 NIV). He also said, “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:20 NKJV).

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What is this fruit Jesus was talking about? And how do we determine whether we have this fruit in our own lives so we can properly glorify God with the time and resources he has given to each one of us?

We find the answer in Luke 6, where Jesus said, “People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (verses 44–45 NIV).

What we say has a powerful effect on others. The Bible says the tongue has the power of life and death (see Proverbs 18:21). More people have died by the power of the tongue than by any other weapon man has ever devised.

We have safety standards for practically everything in our country today. We have gun control. We have emissions control. But what we need is tongue control, because we can destroy people with words.

Yet take a man who has dedicated his tongue to God, and look at what he has done – a man like Billy Graham, who has reached countless thousands, even millions, with the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. What we say will have an effect on others. What you say is fruit. And when we say the right things, that is bringing forth fruit for God.

Praising and thanking God is another kind of spiritual fruit. The Bible says in Hebrews, “Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (13:15 NIV). You may feel gratitude and praise in your heart toward God, but you need to say it. God wants to hear it from you. Take those lips that have the potential for great destruction and instead offer them to the glory of God.

A change in our conduct and character is also a kind of spiritual fruit. According to Galatians 5, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (verse 22 NIV).

These things should be in the life of a person who is walking with God – evidence of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But if the opposite of this is true, then something is wrong. If instead of love there is hatred, bitterness, prejudice and bigotry, if instead of joy there is gloom, if instead of peace there is turmoil and guilt, if instead of gentleness, there is harshness and impatience, if instead of faith there is worry, if instead of meekness there is pride and arrogance, if instead of self-control you find yourself a victim of your own passions, then either you don’t know God at all, or you are living outside of fellowship with Him.

Are you thinking about what you are saying with your words? Are you worshiping God with your lips? Has there been a change in your conduct and character?

Jesus has told us what our lives really should be about and what our purpose really should be. And our abundant life on earth is directly connected to our eternal life in heaven.

But why did Jesus have to face such a cruel death? At the cross the righteous demands of God were met. God plays by his own rules: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4 NKJV), and “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 NIV).

Those Old Testament sacrifices were for a reason. They were pointing to something that was yet to come, and that something was actually a someone: Christ himself. John the Baptist put it the most clearly when he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John1:29 NKJV). Calvary shows how far men will go in their sin and how far God will go for man’s salvation.

The crucifixion did not come as a shock or a surprise to our Lord. From the very moment of his birth in Bethlehem to the day he died, he lived in the shadow of the cross. And He spoke of it often. In fact, he would break it down in great detail for his disciples, telling them that he would be betrayed, crucified and would rise again on the third day.

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They thought He was speaking metaphorically or symbolically, and it went right over their heads. So when it happened, it blew their minds. It shouldn’t have surprised them, but indeed it did. But it certainly didn’t surprise Jesus. The cross wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t merely a tragic turn of events. It was God’s plan from the very beginning.

Crucifixion is not what might be called an efficient death. There were far more effective and simple ways to kill a man than crucifying him. But crucifixion was not designed to merely bring about a man’s death; it was designed to bring about his humiliation. It was a form of slow torture. The Romans would line their streets on both sides with crucified men to serve as a warning: Don’t mess with Rome.

And by the way, those crosses were at eye level. You could be walking down a Roman road, and there would be men hanging on crosses with whom you could make eye contact. Men would live for days on crosses. Crucified men were everywhere in any Roman province. And so it was designed to bring pain and torture and humiliation. It was part of God’s plan. The Bible says that “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10 NKJV).

But how was God pleased by the death of his Son? He wasn’t pleased by what Jesus went through. It broke the heart of the Father to see his Son suffer. However, God the Father was pleased by what was accomplished at the cross. He was pleased by the fact that his eternal plan of salvation was fulfilled. He was pleased by the sacrifice of his son, who died so that others might have eternal life. So for all the evil in the crucifixion, it brought about an infinite good. There probably has never been anything harsher that has been done to a person than what happened to Jesus. Yet it brought about the greatest gift of all time: the salvation of countless souls, including yours and mine.

Jesus knew what was coming, and he made his way voluntarily to the cross.

Why this kind of death? Because it was prophesied in the Old Testament: “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ (Zechariah 13:6 NKJV).

Probably the most well-known passage that speaks of the crucifixion is Psalm 22, where we read, “They pierced My hands and My feet” (verse 16). What is worth noting is that this psalm was written 1,000 years before the first crucifixion even took place.

No one has experienced loneliness on the level that Jesus experienced. He had been abandoned. Judas had betrayed him. His other disciples had largely turned their backs on him, with the exception of John. And at least for a few moments, even God the Father would turn his back on his son. Why? Because as Jesus bore the sin of the world, the Father, who is too pure to look on iniquity, turned his face away. That was Christ’s most painful moment.

He felt forsaken of God because that is the consequence of sin. For a person to be forsaken of God, the penalty that follows is separation from God because of their sin. But Jesus was forsaken of God so that we don’t have to be. Jesus entered the darkness so we can walk in the light. Jesus was forsaken for a time so that we might enjoy his presence forever. And because of what Jesus went through, you never will be forsaken of God.

Jesus himself said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). He already faced abandonment in our place at the cross of Calvary. As he hung there, he was bearing the sins of the world, dying as a substitute for others. He was suffering the punishment for those sins on our behalf, and the very essence of that punishment was the outpouring of God’s wrath against sinners.

He stood in our place. He faced it for us. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 NIV).

What is the cross to you? Is it a place of redemption? Look at it. Consider it. Contemplate it. Because when Jesus died there at Calvary, he was thinking of you.

I once saw a bumper sticker on a car that said, “If you love someone, set them free. If they are yours, they will come back to you. If they don’t come back, hunt them down and kill them.” That is not the kind of person you would want to tailgate.

But why should things like that actually surprise us? Think of the movies you have seen where the hero, so-called, is wronged. Then the movie builds up to that big climax when the hero is going to have his moment of payback. Then we applaud, because that is what we are trained to do and what we are expected to do.

Nowadays if you upset a neighbor, you no longer work it out over a cup of coffee. Instead, it is taken into the local courtroom. There is no forgiveness. People don’t want to forgive anymore; they want to exact their revenge.

Unforgiveness is choosing to love hate. And it will produce bitterness, malignancy, anger, rage, anxiety and depression. Simply put, unforgiveness is sin.

Some might say, “But you don’t understand. This person ripped me off. … This person took advantage of me. … This person slandered me. … This person hurt me. They have to get their payback.”

I do understand. But unforgiveness will eat us up inside. As we experience all of that hatred toward another individual, it is tearing us up. It has been said that when you forgive someone, you set a prisoner free: yourself. What we don’t realize many times is that when we harbor a grudge toward someone or want to exact our revenge, we are actually destroying ourselves.

Jesus constantly pressed the issue of forgiveness. We read about it in his sermons, in his parables, and in his private talks. Even in his prayers, Jesus was always talking about forgiving people. We would be blind to miss this point.

Getting even comes quite naturally to us. But Jesus gives us a different model altogether:

“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also” (Luke 6:27–29 NLT).

In the Jewish culture, slapping someone in the face was among the most demeaning and contemptuous acts. If you really wanted to insult someone, you would slap them in the face. Even a slave would rather have been struck on the back than in the face.

The idea here was not just this act in particular, but general mistreatment. Jesus was saying, “This is how you should react when people mistreat you.” The goal is an attitude that does not want to immediately strike back when someone hurts us.

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To be very candid, this doesn’t come easily to me. It is not an easy thing to turn the other cheek. But the choice before us is this: Either live in a stressed-out way where we feel compelled to get everyone back who wrongs us, or decide to just let things go.

Some people are so competitive. They have to be the fastest. They have to have more than other people do. They have to have everything. So when I encounter people like this, my thought is, You win. You got it all. You will probably have a heart attack in the process, but take it. It is not worth it.

Jesus was saying that we should have an attitude in life in which we don’t pay back evil for evil, but we instead overcome evil with good.

However, this does not mean that we should just let any evil thing happen to us. In fact, on one occasion when Jesus sent his disciples out, he told them to take a sword with them on the journey, which I assume was for self-protection. So I don’t think it is wrong to protect ourselves. I don’t think Jesus was saying that we need to sit around and let people inflict harm upon us unnecessarily. But there are times when we can turn the other cheek for his sake, because an unforgiving Christian is a contradiction. The two words don’t go together.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19 NIV).

This is not something that will come easily to us. In fact, if we wait for some feeling of love to suddenly overtake us, it is not going to happen. We must begin to pray for our enemies even before we are conscious of loving them.

From the cross, Jesus prayed for his tormentors, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34 NKJV).

One of the unique features of Christianity is to forgive like Jesus did. In the cruel torture of crucifixion, Jesus was praying for the very people who had inflicted such pain. So if he could do that, what kind of pain, prejudice, or unfair treatment are you receiving that you could not also forgive?

We need to learn how to forgive. That is what God is asking us to do.

Imagine being a half-brother of Jesus Christ. Jude’s parents were Mary and Joseph, and you have to wonder what it must have been like growing up with Jesus as your older brother. Do you think Mary and Joseph ever said, “Why can’t you be more like Jesus?”

But it is noteworthy that neither Jude nor James nor any of Jesus’ other siblings believed in him prior to his resurrection. So what brought James and Jude around? What caused them to believe?

It was the resurrection. That turned everyone around. The crucifixion was a horrendous thing, but when they saw Christ rise from the dead, that convinced them. Jude saw Jesus nailed to a cross and then resurrected from the dead, and he ultimately believed.

So in his epistle, Jude exhorts his readers, “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life” (Jude 1:21 NIV).

What an interesting statement that is, because the Bible says that believers are “kept by the power of God through faith for salvation” (1 Peter 1:5 NKJV). God keeps us; but Jude also tells us to keep ourselves in God’s love. Obviously there is God’s part – he is ready to keep us. But we must take practical steps to keep ourselves in his love.

Does this mean that we are to keep ourselves in a state where God will love us? That is virtually impossible. No matter how hard we try, we ultimately will fall short of God’s standards. This is not teaching that we should do certain things to somehow merit God’s love or do certain things to somehow deserve his approval.

When Jude wrote that we are to keep ourselves in God’s love, this simply means that we need to keep ourselves in a place where God can actively show his love toward us.

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A good illustration is the story Jesus told about the prodigal son. He was loved by his father, but he foolishly took his portion of the inheritance and went to a distant country, where he lived foolishly. Ultimately, he came to his senses and returned to his father.

While the prodigal was in a distant land, was he still a son of his father? Yes. He was a wayward son, no doubt, and a distant son, without question. But he still was the son of his father. Was he keeping himself in the love of his father or in a place where his father could actively demonstrate his love? No, he was not. His father probably didn’t even know where he was at the time. When he returned home and his father forgave him, took off his rags, clothed him, put a ring on his finger, and threw a party for him, was he then in a place where his father could actively show his love toward him? Yes, he was.

When we disobey God, when we do things that we should not do, it is not that God stops loving us. It is not even that we have necessarily ceased to be true Christians. We are simply wayward. We have essentially taken ourselves out of God’s love and have removed ourselves from the place where God can actively show his love in our lives.

That is what Jude was saying: Stay in a place where God can show his love to you. Simply put, Jude is reminding us that we must keep ourselves from all that is unlike God, from all that would violate his love and grieve him. He was saying, “Stay away from the things that would tear you down. Stay close to God and the people who will build you up.”

Jude pointed to the Israelites as an example, who, in spite of their incredible privilege, did not keep themselves in the love of God. They saw countless miracles. They had God’s spokesman, Moses, leading them through the wilderness. Yet they did not stay in a place where God could actively bless them, beginning with a complete unwillingness to go where he wanted them to go.

When they came to the brink of the Promised Land, they were told to go in. Instead, they chose 12 spies to check things out first. When the spies returned 40 days later, 10 gave a pessimistic report that was filled with fear and trepidation, while two, Joshua and Caleb, gave an optimistic report and encouraged the people to go in.

However, the people turned against Joshua and Caleb, essentially turning against God, who had told them he would give them the land. They even wanted to put these two messengers to death. So God determined that these people would never enter in because of their disobedience. Their unbelief gave way to rebellion, keeping them out of the place where God could bless them in the way that he wanted to.

This clearly shows us that privilege brings great responsibility. None of these people had any excuse. They were exposed to so many amazing things, yet they fell from that place of privilege, reminding us that we, too, can do the same thing.

We can be Christians but at the same time be out of fellowship with God and his people, doing things we should not do. We can remove ourselves from the place where God can actively demonstrate and show his love toward us. We must keep ourselves in a place where God can do that. We must keep ourselves from all that is unlike him, from any influences that would violate his love and bring sorrow to his heart.

Although God’s love is unsought, undeserved and unconditional, it is possible for us to be out of harmony with him. That is why we need to make every effort to keep ourselves in God’s love.