Are you familiar with the concepts of top down and bottom up? These are different versions of developing and presenting concepts but they can be applied to the same ideas. This distinction is most  commonly applied in business and politics. Could it be applied to spiritual matters as well? What is the most common presentation you hear of the gospel message? Does it start from God and go down from there? This is clearly top down. Can the same message be presented starting with the unavoidable human longing for identity, belonging, meaning, and self-transcendence?

Are you familiar with the concept of resonance? It is a term of acoustics that refers to things that vibrate at the same frequency, but the concept is so powerful that the term has been appropriated broadly for human interactions and responses. Have you encountered people or ideas that you identify and connect with, even though you couldn’t offer a rational explanation for it? Has time shown these initial impressions to be true more often than not? You could also refer to this as discernment, or the experience of being led by the Spirit. Some things that are real cannot be explained.

The Bible records that I wept, and you are familiar with this as the shortest verse in the Bible. What was the last thing that moved you to tears? Do you have to think very long about this to come up with an answer? Do you consider it an expression of self-control to avoid weeping? Perhaps you are trying too hard, and this is truer for men than for women. I gave you a full range of emotional expression and you do not honor me by being cold, distant, and unmoved. Have you ever found that emotional expression is restorative and healing? What are you missing because of your unwept tears?

Do you see your life as a story that could be written in a book? Who would write the story? You don’t get to write the first chapter. So many things are out of your control. The time and place of your birth, the cultural, social, and economic circumstances of your upbringing, and your nation, race, gender and tribe are given to you. But even given all of these initial conditions, there comes a time when you are able to make the choices that control the direction of your life. How soon will you do this and what will they be? The end matters more than the beginning.