How we begin is important in our spiritual lives as well. The Bible tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Our generation doesn’t talk much about fearing God. We like to emphasize God’s love, forgiveness and mercy. But fearing God does not mean being scared out of our wits. Rather, it means respectful obedience. It means that we take God very seriously and do what he wants. It’s the foundation of wisdom.

Fearing God means respecting him, trusting him, believing in him and obeying him. If we forget to fear the Lord, sooner or later we’re bound to crash!

“Do you mean that if I ask for a Cadillac, Mike will get two?”

The angel nodded.

Pat thought and thought and finally said, “I wish to be blind in one eye.”

How often is our attitude is like Pat’s, “I’ll settle for what I’ve got only if the other guy comes out on the short end”?

True contentment never comes from doing better or having more than the other guy. Contentment comes from being in the center of God’s will and fulfilling his purposes for our lives.

Sometimes our prayers are as desperate as a 911 call, but the service is even better! When we babble incoherently to God about our health or our job or our marriage, it may seem as if no one is listening and our desperate plea is going unheeded. But, in truth, God instantly knows who we are, what we need and help is on the way. Even if it feels like we’re waiting forever, God’s timing is always best.

The Bible’s rules are not unlike those of football. Jesus is the quarterback and we’re the players. He calls the plays and he’s the boss. Those who think they know more than Jesus and try to “run ahead” of him cannot keep doing it and claim to be a Christian. Listen to how the Bible says it, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of [Jesus] does not have God.”

At fourteen, I thought I knew far more about cars than he could possibly know! I’d never seen him work on a car. But, trying to be nice I said, “Sure, why not?”

He looked under the hood and suggested I connect the ground wire on the distributor. Later, I tried it and the car started! He had the answer – and I had never asked.

And so it is with our human search for meaning in life. We spend years looking when the answer is right there in the Bible. All we have to do is ask God, our father.

During the time Jesus was on earth he taught God’s truths with great skill and performed many miracles. But of all the things Jesus said and did, he shone most brilliantly when he said, “It is finished,” while hanging on the cross. With those words he died, paying the penalty for our sins. It was his finest hour.

The father watched from a nearby hill. His son’s first furrow looked more like a corkscrew than a straight line. The farmer went back down the hill and said, “I told you to fix your eye on something.”

The boy said, “I did. I’m watching the cow.”

How many times have we done much the same thing in our lives? Instead of focusing on a fixed point, we foolishly use such grazing cows as emotions or circumstances as our point-of-reference and end up with a twisted mess.

The answer is to set our “fix” on Jesus who’s the same “yesterday and today and forever.”

For dessert we were each served a large slice of cake with thick, gooey icing. My older brothers each took their knives and sliced, with a surgeon’s skill, between the icing and the cake, carefully setting the icing off to the side so they could save the best part for last. Meanwhile, our Syrian guest was watching closely. He then took his knife and very carefully copied them, assuming that this was how you eat cake in America.

And that’s what Jesus asks us to do. He said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” He wants us to love each other the same way he loves us.

Or if you go swimming in the ocean, warning signs tell where there’s an undertow. Ignoring those signs can bring disaster.

When you have a prescription filled, the pharmacist sticks on a warning label telling you what and what not to take with your pills. The difference between heeding those warnings and not heeding them can be the difference between recovery and staying sick.

The Bible contains warning signs for living the Christian life that are to be taken seriously. They can mean the difference between eternal life and eternal death. Think of your Bible as having a warning sticker, “Ignore at your own risk.”

At first I was surprised, but then I remembered that the same company makes both the Lexus and the Camry. They share similarities in design, mechanics and craftsmanship. I think he knew I wasn’t in the price range of a Lexus, but by comparing the two, I would be able to see the Lexus in the Camry. He was right and I eventually bought the Camry. It was a great car – sort of like a Lexus.

Similarly, every one of us is like God. We are crafted to be like him. We may be imperfect models, but you can still see the image of God in us. We are of infinite value because we bear his image.