One of my enduring commandments is to honor your father and mother. Do you believe that I created you? In some mysterious way I did, and in some not so mysterious way your mother and father were involved in the process.  They made some mistakes concerning you but if they hadn’t done some things right you would not be here to make that observation. Who is prepared to call their own existence into question? For most people this is an axiomatic premise. Yet if you consider the possibility that you may never have been brought into being you can honor those involved even if they did it badly. 

Have you ever heard someone complain about a minor bothersome annoyance and told them to rise above it? This is good advice and you may look for opportunities to apply it to yourself. The range of annoyances covers the whole spectrum. Children are bothered by the smallest things, and it is a mark of maturity that you can rise above ever greater disturbances. My word says the same thing when it teaches you to seek those things which are above, where I sit at the right hand of the Father. For your life consists in me and my Kingdom is your true home, so look forward and look up. 

Do you keep the Ten Commandments? One of these is to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. Yet in my time on earth I was criticized for not keeping the Sabbath because I healed on that day. The observance of the Sabbath has changed a great deal from the original day of rest after creation to a day when most Christians attend church. Would a day of rest be a blessing or a hindrance to you? The new covenant gives every believer maximum latitude in saying that one regards one day above another while another regard every day the same. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. In this covenant of love you are free to observe the Sabbath as you wish. Do so in a way that honors me and gives me glory. 

Do you think of the Christian faith primarily in terms of the church? In my word I talk about building my church. Yet my gospel references to my church are few and my references to my Kingdom are many. Do you see these as separate things? They are not. My church is a part of my Kingdom. Yet how many of my own people think of the Kingdom of God only in the context of their own church? My Kingdom is bigger than your church and I want to enlarge your awareness of all my Kingdom encompasses. I told my disciples that I had other sheep who were not of this fold, and I would bring them all into one flock. This is still true. If you look to see my Kingdom beyond your familiar surroundings you will find that it is larger than you previously understood.