I taught that if you ministered to the least of these that you had done it unto me. This obviously applies to the poor. Do you think they are the only ones who could be considered the least of these? You are surrounded by people who are roughly equal to you financially with whom you do not normally interact because of differences in status, beliefs, interests, ideology, intelligence and education. Contact with them requires you to go outside your comfort zone and applying the principle broadly they could be considered the least of these for you. My word is clear about ministry to the poor in particular, but don’t limit your ministry to them.

I told stories about valuable pearls. One involved a pearl of great price that a man sold everything else he had to buy. He wanted it enough to spend everything he had. Another man found an even more valuable pearl that he could not afford, hidden in a field, and sold all he had to buy the field and get the pearl. You know by basic doctrine that you can’t afford salvation and your entrance to my Kingdom, and you have it by grace, as emphasized in the second story. Yet there is a common theme between the stories. Are you willing to spend everything you have to get something you can’t afford? You are bought with a price and are not your own. 

Have you ever suffered because of something that wasn’t your fault? If someone else set you up either intentionally or unintentionally does it fill you with rage and indignation? My word deals with suffering at great length and teaches you to bear it patiently instead. Even so, much suffering comes about through the random processes of time and chance, and this comes to all. There is another type of suffering that is suffering for righteousness that only comes to the righteous. Do you think you get enough suffering for your own faults and randomness? Do you desire righteousness enough to take on additional suffering? 

It is not reasonable or necessary to expect that you will agree with anyone about everything. Yet you should strive for this first of all, that you disagree agreeably. Do you hold your opinions firmly and defend them vigorously? Allow others the space to do the same thing. You hold your freedom of conscience dearly; defend the right of others to do so too. Do not let doctrine become an issue that separates until you have gone many extra miles. You are called to unity with your brothers. This does not require universal agreement. It does require gracious acceptance of others who also belong to my body.