Where do you keep your treasure? Do you lock it up in a secure place like a bank vault? Are you aware that you have the power to act in my name? I have given you a durable power of attorney. Have you seen other believers use this power casually or arrogantly? For it is also true that the sacrifices acceptable to me are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Do you find that you get better results invoking my name if you do it in humility? It is still my power that is manifested through you, not yours. Do you wonder where I keep my treasure? I keep it in earthen vessels. Like you.

Have you ever said, or heard others say, that we live in a fallen world? You only hear this in church. Do you use this to explain all the evil in the world? Are you willing to write the world off without regret because of this explanation? If you go by the original account, what actually changed at this event? Men were required to put forth effort to earn a living, and women had to put forth effort for childbirth. When I made the world, I declared that it was good. Was it no longer so after the fall? I created the man and woman in my image. Was this no longer true?

Do you have a place that you think of as home? Everyone does, even if they don’t currently live there. For various reasons you may live elsewhere. Yet there is still a longing for home and you refer to this as homesickness. You have not been to heaven and the Bible does not give a precise description of what you will find there. You have heard the accounts of those who claim to have visited there and returned and there is a basis for being wary of these for there are things that eye has not seen nor ear heard, that are not possible to speak.

Do you buy new stuff? You can save money by buying things second hand at garage sales or thrift stores but who doesn’t prefer new if money isn’t a consideration? What about your faith? Is it new or is it second hand? The founders of the faith had direct encounters with God. Can this be mass-produced? Churches make  a version of the original available to anyone who accepts their beliefs and teachings. This is not a bad thing and everyone needs a community. Yet who would argue that this is equivalent to the experience of the founder?