What is your identity? Do you look at your achievements and credentials and positive accomplishments and accept them as the essence of your being? Some people do the same thing with their shortcomings, faults, and bad habits. Could it be that both are wrong? These are all acquired things for you started life with none of them. Do you acquire things to present a favorable image to others? This is a recipe for insecurity and you run the risk of convincing yourself that you are the image that you present to others.

Does your church claim to be the one true church? There has been enough abuse of this concept over time that thinking believers know better than to claim this openly, but does the underlying and unspoken concept still exist? Do you know of any church that wouldn’t be pleased to have you join them? Have you ever heard a church suggest that perhaps they are not a good fit for you? Yet if there are any areas of disagreement, who is expected to conform to the other? Every church has an identity of its own, and should be willing to recognize that it may not be the right one for you.

Have you heard of houses and cars referred to as ‘fixer-uppers’? This implies that they are not suitable for immediate use in their current condition, but that they would be with some work, and this is reflected in the price. Anyone making such a purchase knows that it will be a project. You do not normally hear the same terminology applied to people, but the same concepts apply. So when you came to me were you ready for use as-is, or were you a fixer-upper? If you aren’t sure, consider how much work I have done in you since that time. I took you on knowing that you would be a project.

The Bible encourages belief and promises results for those who have faith. Have you ever prayed for something you really wanted, and believed with everything you had, and not seen the results you wanted? Did you think that if you had more faith it would have worked? Worse yet, have you ever made this observation to someone else, in a dire crisis, that they should have had more faith? Bad form. Don’t do this. Prayer is not like a computer algorithm with known inputs and results, or a standard operating procedure. It is engagement with the mysterious and transcendent divine.