Have you ever had a parasite? These are unwelcome guests and you are fortunate if you have access to hygiene and medical care that makes them rare, for some can be fatal. Have you ever had a spiritual parasite? There are belief systems that fall short of the transcendent. They place crushing demands on you without offering any eternal perspective or mercy and grace to deal with the difficulties of everyday life, including your own shortcomings. Spiritual parasites can result in spiritual death. If you had a physical parasite you would go to great lengths to be rid of it.

Do you have money to invest? If you do, then you will find more investment opportunities available than you can respond to so you have to be selective in the way you allocate your resources. Even if you don’t have money for investment, you have a budget for emotional investment, and this too is a finite supply. You don’t want to go broke emotionally, so you have to be selective in your emotional investments. There are plenty of opportunities for outrage and injustices in the world and you can’t do justice to all of them at once.

Do you live in a democracy? You are fortunate if you live in a place where you have basic freedoms and even a voice in your own government. Do you require this to lead your life of faith? Are you aware that I lived in a country occupied by a foreign power, and the Bible was written under these circumstances? Yet it still teaches you to be subject to governing authority. My primary message was the Kingdom of God, and when I was asked by the civil authorities I said that my Kingdom was not of this world. What does your faith require to thrive? Does it need a favorable government?

Are you ever tempted to seek revenge? Yet you know that vengeance is mine, and I will repay. This implies that you shouldn’t seek revenge yourself. Do you take comfort in the thought that I have more powerful resources at my disposal for vengeance than you do, and can do a better job? But what if I do not deploy these to your satisfaction? What if I show mercy where you would not? Will you criticize me for doing an inadequate job? Perhaps you should use my performance to evaluate your own intentions. If I display a bias for mercy then shouldn’t you prefer it as well?