Are you ever discouraged by all the problems in the world? All the suffering and oppression and wickedness? Yet this story is not a tragedy. Retain your hope. Realize that the ultimate narrative is one of redemption, for you personally, but for the whole project as well. This is a story that will have a happy ending. Keep this in mind as you face your daily struggles. It will make it easier for you to endure them if you see them as temporary and take a long term view.
I said that my sheep hear my voice. Do you find this comforting? Or are you uncomfortable with the idea of being referred to as a sheep? For outside of the Kingdom of God being compared to a sheep is not considered a compliment. In this context the term implies that one is a mindless follower, with no ability or initiative for independent thought and action. The same concept applies in referring to my followers as children of God for those who have reached adulthood. These are not compliments in the context of the way you relate to other men.
How important is it for you to lead a meaningful life? Is this something you would pay money for? But if this is something that you can’t pay for with money, how will you obtain it? Would you sacrifice pleasure and comfort to lead a meaningful life? Think of the people you know whom you admire most for leading a meaningful life. Do they lead lives of ease and comfort, or are they sacrificing these things to advance a noble cause? Can you have it both ways? Some sacrifice is inevitable to create meaning, and you get to make the choice.
Would you rather be angry or sad? Does it seem to you that anger is more prevalent, and people will admit to it more readily than they do for sadness? Is this true of you too? Have you noticed that anger has a judgmental and self-justifying component? It was someone else that made you angry, and you can articulate your justification for your anger as an accusation against someone else. Sadness may have an underlying cause, but it isn’t something that you can blame on someone else. Yet I said blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Do you believe in equality? This is a political concept that is more widely proclaimed than it is understood. Equality normally means the same, but people are not the same, nor are they meant to be. So in what sense are they equal? Do you have children? Are they the same? Yet don’t you have the same love for all of them and on that basis love them equally and treat them equally? And in this sense they are equal even though they are different. The political concept of equality may be entirely secular, but can you make a case for it apart from a sovereign God who is over all?
Have you heard of grateful alcoholics? These people have emerged from the pain and suffering of their addiction and come out the other side to a larger and more gracious humanity than they would have possessed otherwise. They travelled a path that no one would choose, but the cumulative result was a transformative work in their lives. Perhaps you are not an alcoholic, but you face some other form of suffering and loss in which you see no redemptive purpose. Yet I can work in situations that appear to be impossible.
Do you exercise your right to pursue happiness? Do you find more happiness by pursing pleasure or pursuing meaning? Both of these desires are hard wired into you, but only one is a spiritual imperative. Some people will voluntarily sacrifice pleasure to do things that are meaningful, but who can endure a meaningless life even if it involves pleasure? Other people have walked away from a pleasant life to do something of enduring worth. These are both visible expressions of what matters more.
My people seek my presence, as you do for anyone whose company you enjoy. What does my presence mean to you? Do you think of it as the ultimate source of comfort and reassurance? This was not the experience that Jacob had when I showed up to wrestle with him. Yet who could argue that I was not present with him? Wrestling isn’t something that you can do from afar. It is the ultimate contact sport. Yet it also doesn’t meet the definition of comfort and reassurance, and as Jacob found out, there can be permanent consequences from the encounter.
What are you willing to die for? Is there a cause sufficiently greater than yourself that you would voluntarily sacrifice your life for it? You will die one way or another. People anticipate dying of causes related to age at the end of a happy and meaningful life. That is better than having your life cut short by injury or disease. Most people are never faced with the stark choice of giving their life for a cause. But is there a cause great enough to be worth it? The alternative is that preserving your own life is the most important thing and in this you will ultimately fail.
In the Old Testament it was considered normal to hate your enemies and this is still the universally applicable default. But I introduced the radical concept of loving your enemies. Do you think your enemies are worthy of hatred? But hate is a characteristic of the one doing the hating, not of the one who is hated. This is reason enough for not hating. For the one who hates takes on the property of hating. Do you understand the importance of this commandment and desire to follow it? Does it seem to be an impossible task? I will accept you for your affirmation and desire.
