What if I loved everyone? What would I expect from my followers? I would make it easy for them, and make my kingdom accessible for everyone, particularly the poor. I wouldn’t require special garments that not everyone could afford. I wouldn’t require a pilgrimage to some location that was too far away for some people. I would ordain rituals that involved common ordinary materials like water, food and drink. I would structure a faith that could be practiced by anyone, anywhere. My kingdom is not of this world, but the faith I established can be followed by everyone in the world. If I loved everyone I would found the Christian faith. 

On several occasions I mentioned that my time was not yet come, yet I told my disciples that their time was always ready. This wasn’t meant for them alone, but for all my followers, and it is a call to live now, rather than in the future or the past. You can’t change the past and you don’t know what the future will bring. Are you aware of the possibilities of the present moment? This is where obedience and redemptive acts take place. It is the only time that you can act. Paul forgot those things that were behind and pressed forward for the high calling. Different faith traditions recognize different sacraments. Are you willing to see the present moment as a sacrament? 

Do you find that people represent themselves by assigned offices or earned credentials, and that most credentials are academic? But there are other indications that validate authority. Consider Paul, who was quite advanced in the academic credentials of his day. He lists these in detail but then says that he counts them as dung. Yet when he needs to assert his authority he says let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. A modern version of this is, ‘you can just shut up because I’ve paid my dues and have the marks to prove it’. Do you? Remember that not all scars are visible. 

Have you ever head someone exclaim that they are only human? Perhaps you have yourself. This is normally offered in a tone of resignation as an apology or an excuse. You should not apologize for being human, or use it as an excuse. What is man that thou art mindful of him? Yet you are made in my image, and this is true even in a fallen world. No other order of creation can claim this, and it is in human form that I came and walked among you. I am mindful of your frame, and know what you are capable of, and what you are not. I don’t expect more of you than you are able. Do you expect as much of yourself as you are able?