Are you secure enough to admit your faults? It is helpful for your advancement if you can. Do you know people who have a ready excuse for everything, who can find an external reason to blame for everything that goes wrong? Do you think they are correct in this or could their own failings contribute to their poor performance? If you can own your part of the poor performance then you can focus on the ways you contributed to it and the ways you can improve. This is humbling but it is a growth opportunity unavailable to excuse makers and blame shifters.

Do you believe in justice? What type? Most people think of retributive justice in which punishment is meted out to the guilty. This may serve as a deterrent, but it doesn’t improve the situation. The common phrase, even taken from the Bible, is an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But there is another approach that is also found in the Bible. This requires the repayment of something stolen, in even greater measure. This also acts as a deterrent, but it has the additional quality of being restorative. The penalty helps the victim. Which system do you see implemented in your culture?

Have you reached the point in your life where you realize that you can’t make it on your own and need help? Do you also realize that I am the only one who can help you? Blessed are those who realize this. How do you think this works? Do you see it as me providing assistance for you or you consenting to me? There is a profound difference between these, for it determines which one of us is in charge of the process. If it isn’t within you to direct your own steps then no amount of assistance will help.

Are you familiar with the passage of scripture that says, ‘Don’t you know that it is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance?’ How can this be? Does this seem like reverse logic? Are you used to a message of wrath and judgment? You have encountered these motivations in other settings and they can produce compliance even if it is not heartfelt and not good for morale. Have you ever found it more highly motivating to want to please someone who loves you and has extended favor to you? In this case it is good for morale and joyful. Would you agree that love is stronger than fear?