"Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be given you besides." (Mt. 6:33)  "You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you; only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God."(Mic. 6:8)  Perfect happiness can only be found in perfect life, love, and truth, which is God. It does not consist in temporary and imperfect, material possessions (Lk.12:15), sensual pleasures (Ec.1:8), and human friendships, but only in perfect and eternal friendship with God.  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consumes, and thieves break in and steal; lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth consumes, nor thieves break in." (Mt 6:19-20)  We were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) and only God can fill our hearts.  St. Augustine said: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O Lord."

"From the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen." (Wis. 13:1-9)  "Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen-namely, His everlasting power and divinity, being understood through the things that are made." (Rom. 1:20)

1. To test us: We can't know the full answer, because then there would be no need for faith or trust in God.  God shows us examples of how He has drawn good out of evil in the past, in other situations, that we may trust him in the future, in our situation.  "Those who trust in Him shall understand truth." (Wis. 3:9)  "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job. 1:21)  "We accept good things from God, and should we not accept evil?" (Job. 2:10) Other Biblical passages to read are the following: Job.1,2,38-42, and 1Pet.4:12-18.

2. To preserve free will: "When God, in the beginning, created man, He made him subject to his own free choice.  If you choose you can keep the commandments.... Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him." (Sir. 15:14-17)  "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. For what a man sows, that he will also reap." (Gal. 6:7)

3. To draw good out of evil: "You intended evil against me, but God intended it for good, to do as he has done today, namely, to save the lives of many people." (Gen. 50:20)  "As I live, says the Lord God, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man's conversion, that he may live." (Ezek. 33:11)  "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Lk.19:10)  "I came to call sinners, not the just." (Mk. 2:17)

4. To bring about the great good of redemption: "Did not the Christ have to suffer these things before entering into His glory?" (Lk. 24:26)  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that those who believe in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting." (Jn. 3:16)  "Through His suffering, my servant shall justify many.&…;He shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses." (Is. 53:11,12)

5. To conquer evil: "Overcome evil with good." (Rom. 12:21)

6. To give us a means to a greater reward: "He who overcomes, I will permit him to sit with Me upon My throne, as I also have overcome and have sat with my Father on His throne." (Rev. 3:21, Job. 42:10,12.)

"Those who trust in You cannot be put to shame." (Dan. 3:40)  "The unceasing prayer of a just man is of great avail." (Jas. 5:16)

We experience God by opening our hearts and asking Him to come into our soul and our life.  "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If any man listens to My voice and opens the door to Me, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me." (Rev. 3:20)  "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." (Jas. 4:8)  "If you, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Lk.11:13)

God is our Father. (Is. 64:7)
God is our Friend. (Jn. 15:15)
God is our Creator. (Gen. 1:27)
God is our Savior. (Lk. 1:47)
God is our Comforter. (Jn. 11:28)
God is All-Powerful. (Lk. 1:37)
God is All-Knowing. (1Sam. 2:3)
God is Eternal. (Ps. 90:2,4)
God is All-Good. (Ps. 136:1)
God is Just. (Ps.119:37)
God is Light. (1Jn 1:5).

He is, "The Son of God."(Mt. 4:3)
He is, "The Savior of the world." (Jn.4:42)
He is, "The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (Jn.1:29)
He says of Himself, "I am the resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me, even if he die, shall live." (Jn.11:25)
He says of Himself: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." (Rev. 21:6)
He says of Himself: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me."(Jn.14:6)

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that those who believe in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting." (Jn. 3:16)  "Through His suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt He shall bear." (Is. 53:11)  "I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." (Rom. 1:16)  "Now I recall to your minds, the gospel that I preached to you, through which also you are being saved, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas. Then He was seen by more than five hundred at one time, last of all He was seen also by me." (1Cor. 15:1-6)

He was born of a Virgin: "Behold a virgin shall conceive." (Is. 7:14, Mt. 1:18-25)
He was born at Bethlehem: "Bethlehem, from you shall come one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from ancient times." (Mic. 5:2, Mt. 2:6)
He was crucified: "They have pierced My hands and My feet." (Ps. 22:16, Lk. 23:33)
He rose on the third day: "On the third day He will raise us up, to live in His presence." (Hos. 6:2, Lk. 19-23)

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Lk. 9:23)  "The doctrine of the cross is foolishness to those who perish, but to those who are saved, it is the power of God." (1 Cor. 1:18)  The cross is the condition of Christ's discipleship.

"And I saw a great white throne and the Oene who sat upon it; from His face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened.  And another scroll was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the scrolls, according to their works ... and if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the pool of fire." (Rev. 20:11-15)