Depending of the church you attend, you may think that there was only one act of redemption, performed by me long ago. But can you see the same theme of helping to change people’s lives in the world around you? Don’t you find that you are moved by stories of redemption? If you are called to follow me, doesn’t it follow that you should be involved in the work of redemption? Don’t excuse yourself by saying that was mine alone long ago. In what way can you have a positive impact in the lives of others?

I said that the poor in spirit were blessed. People have struggled to understand what this means ever since, and to accept what they do understand of it. In what other area of your life do you seek poverty? This goes against the values of your culture, and if spirituality is the most important thing to you is it an area in which you would want to be poor? How can you make this work in your favor? I told a story about 2 men praying. The one who was spiritually affluent was full of himself and went home without being justified, but the poor man who cried out of his poverty was.

Have you taken algebra class or any other math class? Did you have to solve problems to pass the course? What if the answers had been given to you with the problems and there were no tests? Would you have learned to solve the equations yourself? Do you see any parallel with your faith? When you go to church are you provided with answers to every question, or are you encouraged to engage with the questions yourself? Is there more to your faith than having right answers? Like the algebra class it is beneficial to you to work through the problems to learn the skill of relating to me.

Do you care about being right? Do you care about people and maintaining strong relationships with them? Which is more important? Have you ever been in a dilemma between these things? Your culture teaches you to never back down when you are right. Have you ever been in a situation where proving yourself right was less important than maintaining a friendship? If you decided that being right mattered more was it concerning something transient or your opinion or taste, or was it standing up for transcendent and eternal truth?