Do you love my appearing? How do you do this? So many of my followers have studied the question of my return, which I promised, and used it as an occasion to develop scenarios and timelines and assign identities of Biblical characters to real people. How many have been correct so far? None. This alone should discourage you from making definite predictions. And yet the Biblical instruction is clear and emphatic for you to watch for my return, to love my appearing, and to hasten the day of my return. How can you do this without focusing on scenarios and dates and identities?

Do you rush to judgment? When something goes wrong, are you eager to attribute it to another person and in particular to attribute it to evil intent on their part? For instance, if something is missing do you assume that another person stole it? Yet there are many possible explanations for a missing item some of which involve inadvertent action on the part of another person and some don’t involve other people at all. If you are quick to impute evil intent and actions to others without really knowing you should ask yourself why.

Have you noticed that one side effect of the modern world is the need to carry identification, and to remember a username/password combination for all of your on-line accounts? This may be necessary for security, but isn’t it a relief to be among friends who know you, for whom you don’t have to present a card to establish your identity, or to log in? What do you expect when you enter the Kingdom of God? You may only know me by reputation; that which you hear from others, or read about.

Are you familiar with the concept of self-norming? Do you do it? Is it incomprehensible to you that others come to different conclusions than you do on important issues? Do you think that they are stupid? You can comprehend that there are different viewpoints than your own without agreeing with them. You may find that those who disagree with you are as informed and intelligent as you are. You may also find that they are of good character and conscience. You are called not to judge, and disagreeing with you is the worst reason for judging someone else.