“How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (James 4:14 NLT)

It’s been said that inside every old person is a young person wondering what in the world just happened. Life is a fast-moving ride. And if you’re not aware of just how quickly it moves, there’s a lot you might miss.

The Bible makes the same point in much more eloquent terms. In Job 9:25–26, Job says, “My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away without a glimpse of happiness. It disappears like a swift papyrus boat, like an eagle swooping down on its prey” (NLT).

And David says in Psalm 39:4–7, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath. We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you” (NLT).

We’re all rushing headlong to what lies beyond this life. And that’s a scary thought to some. Actor William Shatner, of Star Trek fame, once said, “I’m so not ready to die. It petrifies me. I go alone. I go to a place I don’t know. It might be painful. It might be the end. My thought is that it’s the end. I become nameless, and I spent a lifetime being known.” Someone needs to tell William Shatner that there’s a God in Heaven who loves him, and that he can know where he’s going after he dies. He can go to Heaven if he puts his faith in Jesus Christ, and he can live long and prosper.

In the meantime, we must make the most of our brief stay in this world. In the passage above, James asks, “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?” What he’s really asking is, “What kind of life are you living? What are you doing with this precious gift called life right now?”

If you want to get more specific, you could change the question to “What are you doing with the precious gift of your marriage?” Or with your family or other loved ones. Time is passing quickly for them, too.

One of the best strategies for living life well is found in Proverbs 3:6: “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” God knows every possible path that’s laid out before you. He knows where each decision will take you. He knows the routes that will lead to fulfillment, joy, growth, and maturity. And He knows the dead-ends.

If you trust in Him and ask Him to guide you according to His will, He will help you make the most of your brief time in this world.

Life is short. Live it well.

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“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.” (James 1:2 NLT)

There are certain passages of Scripture that make you say, “Huh?” James 1:2 is a prime example. It almost defies logic. Doesn’t it seem natural for our circumstances to dictate our response? It’s just input and output, isn’t it? If we’re dealt personal troubles, the obvious responses are anger, frustration, and anxiety. If we experience a betrayal, the logical response is bitterness. If the input is disappointment, the output is sadness. Right?

Not according to James 1:2. “When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.” If that seems like a weird thing to say to a suffering person, look more closely. James isn’t saying enjoy it when you suffer. And he’s not saying that troubles are joy because they’re not. Hebrews 12:11 tells us, “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful!” (NLT). James is saying when you’re confronted by difficult situations, make the choice to rejoice.

Jesus set the ultimate example for us in this area. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame” (NLT). Joy? What joy? Jesus was scoured with a whip thirty-nine times. His beard was ripped from His face. He was punched countless times by Roman soldiers. He had a crown of thorns pressed into His scalp. After losing a tremendous amount of blood, He was forced to carry a heavy crossbeam to the site of His crucifixion. He had spikes driven through His wrists and feet.

Can you find the joy in this picture? Jesus could. The joy was you. The joy was me.

Jesus knew what His suffering and death on the cross would accomplish. He came to this world to be a suffering Savior, to bear our sins, to die in our place, and then to rise again from the dead. Instead of focusing on the misery and pain of His immediate circumstances, He saw the joy in the big picture. He made the choice to rejoice.

Paul and Silas made the same choice when they sang praises to God after they’d been thrown in a Roman jail for preaching the gospel (see Acts 16:25–40). They didn’t give in to self-pity, fear, or anger behind bars. Instead, they counted it a privilege to suffer for their faith. They understood that God was doing something bigger, and they rejoiced that they were able to play a part in His plan.

You can do the same thing. If you’re going through a time of trial right now, rejoice. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to or don’t feel like it. Rejoice. Why? Because God is in control. He knows what you’re experiencing. Rejoice because God is working your situation for His purposes.

If you’re struggling in a relationship, rejoice. God may be strengthening your bond. Or He may be giving you clarity about what your next step should be. Whatever the case, know that He is aligning your relationship with His will.

No matter what you’re going through, it will work together for God’s glory and ultimately for your good. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (NLT). God is in control, so we can make the choice to rejoice.

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“And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.” (James 1:13 NLT)

The urge to “pass the buck”—that is, to blame others when you get caught doing something wrong—was one of the first byproducts of sin. Genesis 3 tells us that sin entered the world when Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Shortly thereafter, they heard God walking through the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day, and they hid from Him.

“Then the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’

He replied, ‘I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.’

‘Who told you that you were naked?’ the Lord God asked. ‘Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?’

The man replied, ‘It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’

Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What have you done?’

‘The serpent deceived me,’ she replied. ‘That’s why I ate it’” (verses 9–13 NLT).

First, Adam passed the buck to Eve. What happened to the Adam who said of Eve after she was created, “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man’” (Genesis 2:23 NLT)? He quickly changed his tune to “She did it!” He threw Eve under the bus and then drove it over her a couple times.

What he really did, though, was blame God. If you read between the lines, you see that he’s essentially saying, “Hey, I was just taking a nap. When I woke up, my rib was missing, and she was here. If You hadn’t created her, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Eve tried a different approach: “The devil made me do it.” Nope. The devil can’t make you do anything. He can tempt you, but you have to want what he’s offering, or the temptation won’t work. Ultimately Eve was responsible for her sin, even though she was deceived by the serpent.

You’re responsible for your sins, too—no matter what the circumstances were that led to them. The devil’s not to blame. And neither is God. (Look at those words in James 1:13 again.) We all do a pretty good job of getting ourselves into trouble because we have a sinful nature.

But if we try to shift the blame, we miss a golden opportunity to repent and receive God’s forgiveness. First John 1:9 promises that “if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (NLT). To claim that promise, we must take full responsibility for our sin. The verse doesn’t say, “if we incriminate others”; it says, “if we confess.”

When we take responsibility for our sin, we also set a powerful example for our kids. Or other loved ones. Or people who look to us for guidance. Through our example, we give them the courage to take responsibility for their own sin.

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“He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.” (1 Corinthians 15:4–7 NLT)

The New Testament book of James was written by someone very close to Jesus: His half-brother. Jesus was the Son of God the Father and Mary, who conceived supernaturally. James was the son of Joseph and Mary. Jesus and James had the same mother, and they were raised by the same man.

The Bible tells us very little about the first thirty years of Jesus’ life. We know that when he was twelve, He amazed the teachers in the Jerusalem temple with His understanding of Scripture (see Luke 2:41–52). Aside from that, we have no information about what He was like as a boy. Or as an older brother to James and His other half siblings.

We know that Jesus lived a sinless life. That means He never lied. He never stole anything. He never lost His temper. He never rebelled or talked back, and He always did His chores.

But did that register with James as a boy? Did he know the story of Jesus’ birth? Did he have the slightest inkling that his brother was the long-awaited Messiah? There’s no indication of it.

And what about later, as an adult? If he didn’t witness any of Jesus’ miracles personally, he certainly knew about them. According to John 7:3–4, “Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!’” (NLT).

That may seem like a statement of encouragement and faith. But verse 5 says, “For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.” James was aware of Jesus’ miracles, not to mention His teachings and His claims to be the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. Yet James refused to believe. He hardened his heart against the truth for as long as he could.

It was Jesus’ disciple Thomas who said, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side” (John 20:25 NLT). But that seems to have been James’ attitude, too. So, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus appeared to His brother after His resurrection. He didn’t punish James for his years of unbelief. He gave him the evidence he needed to believe.

After decades of a hard-hearted refusal to believe, James’ heart softened. He finally recognized Jesus for who He is. He embraced the truth of Christ.

Hard-heartedness is a tough condition to overcome, but it’s not impossible. If you encounter someone who stubbornly refuses to accept the truth of the gospel, don’t give up. Keep praying and sharing your faith. You never know where the tipping point is.

The hardest people to reach are the ones closest to you—your spouse, your parents, your kids, your siblings, your oldest friends. If you try to tell them how Christ has changed your life, they get suspicious because they know you too well. But don’t get discouraged. You don’t know the work God is doing to soften their hearts and make them more receptive to the gospel.

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“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” (James 1:5 NLT)

Some people treat prayer like a Christmas list. They see the words “generous God” and launch into their “gimmes.” Gimme a new car. Gimme a vacation home. Gimme a Gulfstream jet so I don’t have to fly commercial. The problem is, if you focus your attention on material possessions, you overlook the most valuable asset God makes available to you: wisdom.

James says, if you need wisdom, ask for it. God won’t rebuke you, no matter how many times you request it. Believe me, I’ve tested the limits. I pray for wisdom all the time. When I start a business meeting. When I prepare a message. When I think about the future of our church. I love to say, “Lord, You’ve promised in Your Word to give us Your wisdom. I’m praying for it right now.” Which is another way of saying, “I need to know Your will, Lord. Show me Your will.”

If you’re married or in a relationship, the need is even more pressing. God’s wisdom can help you navigate the highs and lows of life together. It can help you meet your relationship challenges head-on. It can help you keep your eye on the big picture while you work out the small details.

God’s wisdom is something we should all be seeking after. Proverbs 9:10 says, “Fear of the Lord”—that is, reverence for the Lord—“is the foundation of wisdom” (NLT).

Don’t mistake intelligence for wisdom. You can be smart but not necessarily wise. I’ve seen people who are very intelligent, who have advanced degrees hanging on their wall, and who are very successful in their chosen field do some of the most ridiculous things imaginable.

Intelligence is acquiring knowledge and applying it, developing certain skills. But wisdom comes from a different place. Some wisdom comes from life’s lessons. We learn from things we’ve done right—and we also learn from our mistakes. But the ultimate source of wisdom is God and His Word. That’s what we want to build our lives on.

In Matthew 7, Jesus tells the story of two men who built on two different foundations. The wise man built his house upon rock. When storms came and beat upon the house, it stood firm because it was built on the right foundation. In contrast, the foolish man built his house on sand. When the same storms came, his house collapsed. Jesus said, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock” (NLT).

Building a life is different from building a house. It’s not always obvious what’s rock and what’s sand. That’s why God wants us to pray—as often as we need to—for wisdom. Some people build their lives on a relationship that seems unshakable—as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar—only to have their foundation collapse when the relationship ends. Other people build their lives on job security or financial security, and then find themselves in rubble when the industry or market collapses.

God will help us find the solid ground of His will in every situation. All we have to do is ask.

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“This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate.” (John 21:24 NLT)

Simon Peter was a fisherman by trade. So it seems fitting that his first encounter with Jesus had taken place on a boat. Luke 5 tells us that after an unsuccessful fishing excursion, Peter was cleaning his nets when he saw Jesus being followed by a large crowd. Jesus stepped onto Peter’s boat and asked him to row Him out a little bit so that He could teach the crowd from the boat. After Jesus finished teaching, He instructed Peter to row a little further out and let down his nets again. This time when Peter did, the nets became so full of fish that they began to tear. It was a miraculous haul.

In the last chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus repeats the scene. Peter and six other disciples had returned to their boats in Galilee. After fishing all night with nothing to show for it, they were rowing back to shore. A voice from the beach told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. When they did, their nets filled immediately.

“It’s the Lord!” John realized in verse 7 (NLT).

That was all Simon Peter needed to hear. In true Simon Peter fashion, he immediately jumped overboard and swam to shore.

Jesus had breakfast ready for His hungry disciples. After they had eaten, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (verse 15a NLT). In other words, “Is your love for Me greater than the love of these other disciples?”

“‘Yes, Lord,’ Peter replied, ‘you know I love you.’

“‘Then feed my lambs,’ Jesus told him” (verse 15b NLT).

Twice more, Jesus asked if Peter loved Him. Twice more, Peter said yes. And twice more Jesus gave a variation of His instruction: “Then take care of my sheep” (verse 16 NLT) and “Then feed my sheep” (verse 17 NLT).

On the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter had denied three times that he was Jesus’ disciple. On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, three times he announced that he was, in fact, Jesus’ disciple. Jesus gave Peter the chance to redeem himself and prove his true character.

The disciple who had been too timid to admit his connection with Jesus would soon become one of the boldest in proclaiming Jesus’ message. Peter would become one of the cornerstones of the first-century church. And, as Jesus informs him, he would one day die by the same means Jesus did. “You will stretch out your hands” (verse 18 NLT) is a reference to crucifixion. Church tradition tells us that Peter was crucified in Rome.

In the final chapter of John, Jesus shows us that no failure is too devastating to come back from. As long as we have breath to confess and repent, we can recover. Jesus will forgive us. He will restore us. He will give us an important purpose and place in His work.

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“Then Jesus told him, ‘You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.’” (John 20:29 NLT)

Jesus’ followers had seen Him turn water to wine. They’d seen Him heal the sick, the deaf, the blind, the disabled, and the demon possessed. They’d seen Him feed 5,000 people with five small loaves of bread and two fish. They’d seen Him calm a storm at sea. They’d seen Him raise Lazarus from the dead. They’d heard Him explain countless times that He had to die but that He would return.

Yet it doesn’t seem to have occurred to any of them that He would rise from the dead.

Mary Magdalene visited Jesus’ tomb very early on the Sunday morning after the Sabbath. Her plan was to anoint Jesus’ corpse with more spices. When she saw that the heavy stone in front of the tomb had been rolled away, she suspected that His body had been moved.

She found Simon Peter and John and told them. The two disciples ran to the tomb. John, the younger one, got there first but stopped outside. Simon Peter, the bolder one, ran inside. The two of them saw Jesus’ grave clothes—but not His body.

Suddenly the truth dawned on John. “He saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead” (verses 8b–9).

The two disciples returned home without telling Mary Magdalene what they had seen. She stayed at the tomb, crying. But when she looked inside, she saw two angels sitting where Jesus’ body had been. And when she turned around, she saw what she thought was a gardener. She asked him where they had taken Jesus’ body.

“Mary!” the man said in verse 16. That one word was all she needed to recognize Jesus’ voice.

That evening, all but one of Jesus’ disciples met together. Only Thomas was missing. Apparently, they sensed the targets on their backs because they met behind locked doors. Suddenly the risen Jesus appeared to them. He showed them His wounds to prove that He had, in fact, died. Naturally, the disciples were overjoyed to be in His presence again.

But Thomas wasn’t overjoyed when they told him about it later. For him, the news was too good to be true. “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side” (verse 25).

Eight days later, the disciples met again behind locked doors. This time, Thomas was with them. Suddenly Jesus appeared again. “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!’” (verse 27).

He gave Thomas the evidence he needed to believe. Thomas and the other disciples had an essential ministry ahead of them. They would tell the world what they’d seen Jesus do and what they’d heard Him say so that others, who hadn’t seen or heard Him, might believe. Jesus ensured that His followers had what they needed to carry out their assignment.

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“When Jesus had tasted it, he said, ‘It is finished!’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30 NLT)

The Jewish religious leaders found Jesus guilty of blasphemy. But they didn’t have the authority to execute Him. Only a Roman official could sentence someone to death. That’s why they brought Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. They hoped that he would rubber-stamp their capital punishment plans.

Pilate saw through their scheme. He sensed that Jesus was innocent. But the religious leaders had instigated a mob to demand Jesus’ blood. Pilate tried to appease the mob’s bloodlust by having Jesus scourged—that is, beaten several times with a multiheaded whip. Each head was studded with sharp bits of metal designed to tear flesh.

Pilate’s soldiers placed a crown made of thorn branches on Jesus’ head and a purple robe on His shoulders. “Hail! King of the Jews!” they taunted in verse 3 (NLT) as they slapped and punched Him.

Pilate paraded the mutilated form of Jesus before the crowd, hoping that would satisfy them. It didn’t. The crowd, many of whom had cheered and welcomed Jesus a short time earlier, wanted Him to die.

“Crucify Him!” the religious leaders shouted in verse 6. “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God” (verse 7 NLT).

Those words scared Pilate. Romans believed that godlike figures sometimes disguised themselves as humans. People who mistreated them were punished. He didn’t want to make that mistake with Jesus.

He tried to talk to Jesus, but Jesus was interested only in fulfilling God’s plan, no matter what the cost was to Him. Pilate reminded Him that he had the authority to release or crucify Him. Jesus pointed out that Pilate had no real control of the situation. His Roman superiors told him what to do. An angry mob was influencing his actions. And God’s will dictated everything that happened.

With no other options, Pilate turned Jesus over to be crucified. Prisoners sentenced to crucifixion were forced to carry the horizontal beam of their cross to the execution site. Their wrists and feet were nailed to the cross with almost medical precision. The goal was to make them suffer as much pain as possible with as little blood loss as possible. Some people suffered for days on the cross before they finally died.

The Romans often placed a sign on the cross that listed the condemned person’s crimes. Jesus’ sign read “King of the Jews” (verse 19 NLT). The offended religious leaders tried to get Pilate to change it to “He said, I am King of the Jews” (verse 21 NLT). But Pilate refused. So as Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the world, the sign on His cross announced the truth about Him.

Before He died, Jesus arranged for John to care for Mary, Jesus’ mother. With nothing left to accomplish, “he said, ‘It is finished!’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (verse 30 NLT). He willingly died. And He did it so that we might live.

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