Which is more important to you, time or money? When you go to church do they ever have a stewardship program for time? Yet I regard your time more highly than your money. Money can be abstract and applied at a distance, even for good causes, but time is immediate and present. When you give of your time it is more personal than giving of your money, and it is an equalizer for which there are no rich or poor. How you spend your money is an expression of your character, but so is the way you spend your time. I alluded to this when I told my disciples that their time was always ready.

Are you happy when you are hungry? Have you found that other people are grumpy when they are hungry, and lacking energy and interest in anything besides food? Could this be true of you too? The same thing goes for thirst. But I tell you to hunger and thirst after righteousness. I go beyond this and say that those who do so are blessed. Why is this? For hunger also focuses your attention and serves as a motivator to seek fulfillment. You seek what will satisfy your appetite, and everyone has an appetite for something.

Are there self-righteous people in the world? Are you one of them? How would you know? You may recall from my encounters in the Bible that those whom I considered to be self-righteous didn’t think they were. And so it is possible to have this problem and not be aware of it. The same Biblical accounts indicate that this is a serious matter worthy of investigation. How can you find out? You could ask your fellow believers to examine you, but they may be too close to be objective, since they may have the same log in their eye that you have in yours.

Do you love your enemies? Do you think that this is the hardest commandment to follow, and even more difficult in concept than a camel passing through the eye of a needle? How is this even possible? Do you love me? Do you believe that all men (and women) are created in my image? If you hold this as a basic premise of creation, then can you see my image and likeness in every person you meet? This is an act of faith, and some people make it easy for you and others do not. Your enemies may make it hardest of all, but if you can see me even in them then you can love them.