Most people will go to extraordinary lengths to save their own lives. If they are ill, some people will put their families into heavy debt for costly surgery or treatments to buy themselves a few more months of life. Still others will lie and allow the innocent to be condemned in order to save themselves.

Why do we cling so tightly to life? Is it because we fear what lies beyond? As King Solomon wrote, “Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of an animal goes down into the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21 NIV)

No one likes pain. In fact we will often go to great lengths to avoid it. Many times we will even put off taking care of problems because we are afraid that dealing with them will cause us pain.

But the truth is that we all experience pain and suffering. It is an unavoidable part of life. Every one of us has wounds – some which are visible to all, others which only we know about.

Everyone would like other people to think well of them. The question is how to achieve it. Some people think the answer lies in external appearance. But following the latest fashions and dressing in the latest styles does not guarantee that anyone will respect or like you.

Some people think the way to obtain the regard of others is to accumulate wealth or power. But gaining wealth and power does not ensure that people will like or respect you either. It is more likely to cause jealousy and envy.

Can you imagine a world in which there were no needs? No one would go to bed hungry. No one would lack the necessities of life. Everyone would have enough money and resources. No one would lack education. Everyone would enjoy good health.

For centuries, philosophers and politicians have attempted to devise social and political utopias which would remove all of the injustices and inequities which plague mankind. None have succeeded. None of them ever will because they only address symptoms instead of the real cause of mankind’s troubles.

People are obsessed with the pursuit of beauty. Every year our society spends fortunes on products designed to make us look better. Every day we are bombarded with advertisements which promise us beauty if we will only buy what is offered.

Yet, we all know that physical beauty is temporary. Though we do not like to admit it, we are well aware that the Bible is true when it says, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting...” (Proverbs 31:30 NIV) No matter how many creams and lotions we buy, we cannot stop the ravages of time.

The Prophet Job asked an important question which many people have, “If a man dies, will he live again?...” (Job 14:14 NIV) Probably most people would like to think that there is something beyond this life. The thought that everything ends at the grave is repugnant. In contrast, the thought of being resurrected from the dead and being given a new body that will last forever is very appealing.

But suppose the resurrection never takes place. What would it mean if the grave is the end of everything?

Which of us has never been disappointed by others? Which of us has not experienced feelings of hurt and betrayal by what others have done? While the actions of others disappoint us and may even harm us, perhaps we experience the greatest hurt when someone breaks their word to us. They make a promise and do not keep it. They say they will do one thing, then do another. They mislead us or lie to us.

Each time someone misleads us or breaks their word to us it also breaks the trust we have in them. Once trust is broken, it is difficult to restore it. And so, we continue to alienate each other and move apart.

Many people insist that there is no God. Many others proclaim that it is self-evident that God exists. The truth is that there is no absolute proof one way or the other. Even those people who have been raised in very religious homes, if they are honest with themselves, have, at some time in their lives, wondered whether God really exists or whether He is merely a product of their own imagination. Though there is a great deal of evidence which points to God’s existence, the evidence only goes so far. After a certain point we must decide whether God is or not, on the basis of faith.

If God exists, why does He not disclose Himself to us in such a way that there can not be any doubt? Why does He give us the choice to believe? The answer tells us something about both God and ourselves.

We have a saying, “Seeing is believing”. The saying is a reminder to use a little caution when someone tells us something. We should not always believe everything we’re told. The more important the claim, the more diligent we ought to be to verify the claim before accepting it. For example, it would be unwise to buy a house without first inspecting it to see whether it is worth the asking price. Many people have been swindled because they did not take the time to verify what the seller told them.