Do you see any purpose in suffering? Is there anything else that people go to such great lengths to avoid? Christians are quick to point out that they don’t need to suffer for their redemption, for that has already been done, and they are saved by grace rather than works. Could there be any reason? The Bible says he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Paul listed all the credentials he could claim and then systematically devalued every one. Yet when it became necessary for him to assert his authority he referred to the scars he got from serving me.

What is the most spiritual thing you do? Go to church? I offered a lesson in priorities when I said that if you come to offer a gift on the altar, and recall that your brother has something against you, that you should leave your gift and go and be reconciled with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift. Is church attendance the modern equivalent of offering your gift? Is this more spiritual than being reconciled to your brother? My illustration suggests that it is not. Have you ever left a church service to attend to a matter of human reconciliation? Feel free to do so.

Peacemakers are highly rated in the Bible, so you should want to be one. Don’t assume that this is something that only diplomats and statesmen can do. The term implies that you must start with an absence of peace. How hard is it to find strife? Then how do you go about making peace? You can start by bringing the two sides together and helping them to see how much they have in common. Don’t discount the value of shared humanity. Problems are solved at a higher level of thinking than gave rise to them. Disputes resolve at the level of transcendence.

The human desire for justice and explanations is strong, so in the face of tragedy and suffering, people will try to assign blame. I faced this same question with regard to a man who was born blind. The question that the religious leaders debated was who sinned that this came about? Was it him or his parents? I answered the question that it was neither the man nor his parents. Blame isn’t always assignable and this is worth remembering as a general rule, since you are not called on to judge. Then I healed the man. So would you rather be an arbiter of cosmic justice or a healer?