Are you at peace? What is the basis for the peace you have or would like to have? Stable relationships? Financial security? Secure employment? Absence of war or national or personal crisis? These are all obvious answers, but they may not be available to you. Yet you can still have peace. I offered my followers peace, but not as the world gives. You may recall that my early followers did not have the type of security and stability that you enjoy, yet my offer was real. My kingdom is not of this world, so the peace I offer has a transcendent quality.

Are you a reasonable person? Do you think there is a rational explanation for everything, and are you willing to be persuaded by a clearly structured argument supported by evidence? Have you ever encountered someone who resisted changing their mind in the face of a convincing argument? Have you ever done this yourself? Reason doesn’t explain everything. You are an emotional creature as well, and don’t see this as a weakness. You need to feel emotionally safe enough to trust before you will change your views no matter how compelling the argument.

Which of my characteristics do you think is most important? Do you consider the divinity of Christ to be the non-negotiable basis of faith, and make that the central thrust of your evangelical efforts? How did I refer to myself? I could have selected from among many titles, but the most common was, The Son of Man, which is to say, the human one, like yourself. Do you consider your humanity a burden to be overcome, since you are ‘only human’ after all? You can see that I didn’t take such an approach.

Are you familiar with the story of Abraham and Isaac? Do you think it was cruel for me to ask Abraham to kill his own son? Even if you don’t, you will meet people who do because they don’t understand the point of the story. You may recall Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice that which was most important to him and my intervention at the moment of truth to prevent this final act. And so the name Isaac has become symbolic of the ultimate sacrifice that anyone could make. Do you think Abraham would have given his own life to preserve his promised son?