Have you ever heard someone justify an extravagant purchase by saying, ‘I’m worth it’? This is faulty reasoning. Your worth is inestimable because you bear my very image and likeness. Don’t bring it down to the world of commerce in material goods. Haven’t I chosen the poor to be rich in faith? But anyone who attaches their worth to an inanimate object is poor no matter how much money they have. If you understand your true worth it will bring you to a place of contentment.
I said that if your brother offends you, you need to go to your brother. Have you found that this is a very difficult thing to do? This can result in a hard conversation, but your brother may have offended you unawares, and it might be easily resolved. Even if it is not you have put the issue in the open. What is the easy thing to do? Cut off all contact without a word or a trace? Easier still to spread the word and enlist support from any third parties who will hear you, to vindicate and justify yourself. Have either or both of these things ever been done to you? Don’t do them yourself.
Do you make a strong distinction between full time spiritual employment and secular work? I don’t. some people serve full time in church ministry, but others? They may describe their work as a job or a career or a profession, but all these terms imply secular work, and in church circles it is implied if not stated that this is inferior to full time ministry. But you can conduct yourself as a Christ follower in whatever job you currently hold. You can live by my principles and use whatever opportunities present themselves to let your light shine before men that they may glorify me.
I said that unless you are converted and become as little children you would not enter the Kingdom of God. Yet you have already been a child. So this statement implies that you have lost something you once had that is essential to life. What could it be? Have noticed that children have a sense of wonder and live in a world of enchantment? They get over this in due course. So it is appropriate to ask if this is true or not, and if it is a valid and useful way to see the world. Do you live in a world I created? Every time you open your eyes do you see something I made with divine intention?
When your fellow believers refer to the ‘Word’, what do you think they are talking about? The Bible? Or the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among you? It is possible for one word to refer to more than one Word, but since these are different things it is important to distinguish which is which. What distinctions do you make? Which came first? Which will endure forever? Do you see them both as living and powerful? Which one gives life to the other? Do you regard a living author as greater than the works he produces?
Would you rather be judged by your achievements or by your faults? How do you judge others? it is easier to judge by faults, for once committed they provide a basis for judgment, condemnation, and rejection that cannot be erased. Achievements take longer to accumulate, and a more lengthy and attentive observation. What about the person who has little or none of either? Is this the mark of a worthy life, to have done nothing either good nor bad? You know that forgiveness is available for your faults, and for the faults of others as well. What is the remedy for lack of accomplishment?
Have you ever taken communion? Are you familiar with the passage about examining yourself that you may not partake in an unworthy manner? This was not meant to be a worthiness contest, or to turn people away from my table. The intent is that you would examine yourself and still come. You encounter enough judgment and condemnation already. I do not mean to add to your burden. If you need healing, and know that you cannot heal yourself, then come to the place where healing is freely given. Come acknowledging your need for restoration. I invited you because I want you at my table.
Have you ever held a garage sale? Many people do this to get rid of accumulated stuff they no longer use. It is possible to make money doing this but getting rid of unwanted things seems to be a stronger motivation. Sometimes churches organize these as a group. Can you carry the metaphor of the garage sale to a spiritual dimension? Have you accumulated beliefs and practices that are no longer serving you and in fact are getting in your way? This can be true on an individual level and on a church level or higher. Are you willing to clean house and hold a garage sale?
Have you ever done something with a sense of urgency you could not explain, or changed your routine way of doing things without being able to explain why? Have you found out later that these changes or timely completion of tasks was favorable for you? Yet you didn’t know at the time why this was so. I promised that my children would be led by the Spirit. The promise is not that you will understand in the moment that this is what is happening. This actually enables you to receive this process and take part in it with greater grace and humility.
How do you regard the poor? The Bible says that they are rich in faith, and I had a special preference for them. Yet there is a tendency for everyone to seek out and associate with those of their own economic standing. For this reason, the poor are an abstraction for those who are not, even those who would assist them. Do you give to the poor? How many of them do you know personally? Do you think it is better to aid them by giving to support organizations or by giving to them directly?
