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?

You live in a culture that values learning. What is the purpose of education? One school of thought is to learn the skills you need for employment. This is valuable, but it is a utilitarian approach. You see your faith as transcendent. Can your education be as well? Do you draw a strong distinction between spiritual and secular education? Do you see any source of truth other than me? Do you see your curiosity as a gift from me, as an invitation to follow me in learning the means I have used to structure the world and to help you find your place in it?