I describe love as hoping, bearing, and believing all things. Does this mean that love is naïve? If you applied the same terms to a person would you say that they are loving or gullible? You say that love is blind, but true love is not unaware. How do you look through loving eyes? Can you look at love not as naïve, but rather as a powerful influence that can bring into being that which is not yet visible? Love doesn’t see less than what is visible; it sees more. It sees potential and trusts in the ultimate and transcendent forces to realize it, and so brings it about.

When people of differing faith traditions get together they like to argue about whose version of doctrine is correct. How often do you see anyone change their mind as the result of such a discussion? Perhaps a better approach is to compare practical, visible measures of the beneficial effects of adopting a particular faith. Are the people who convert to this faith more loving and kind, more generous and less violent than they were before? This is a stronger argument for the validity of a faith than one based on doctrinal correctness. Transformed lives are irrefutable evidence.

Are you familiar with narcissism? Even before this term was in common usage you knew people who were selfish, self-absorbed, and ‘all about them’. You know that this is a diminished expression of humanity, and such people are avoided for good reason. Is anyone entirely free from this? It seems to be a common human affliction to some degree, but you also know people who are at the other end of the spectrum and admire them and wish to emulate them for good reason. What qualities should you seek to overcome selfishness?

Have you heard that the safest place in the world is in my will? If you are to accept this proposition, you may have to rethink your definition of safety. Consider how many people have paid the ultimate price and lost their lives because they were obedient to me. You remember them and honor them as martyrs. How strong is your desire to live a life of destiny, full of meaning and purpose? Is this greater than your fear of death? For there are values even higher than safety, and you will die whether you lead a meaningful life or not.