Do you consider the whole world to lie in wickedness, lost in darkness? Are you mindful of your commission to come out from among them and be separate? How do you carry this out? Do you hold it as a matter of doctrine that you are better than they are? Do the verses describing the state of the world around you tempt you to respond with spiritual arrogance? Would their answer about your behavior agree with yours? How can you reach them with my message if you hold yourself as superior? How can you hold a correct understanding of spiritual discernment and not enter into judgment?

Do you see prayer as a sacrifice? You can make a case for this from the Bible, and  that the scent of the prayers of my people provides a sweet aroma for me. The concept of sacrifice is inseparable from cost. If you see your prayers as a sacrifice what cost is associated with them? If you only pray for your own concerns or acquisitions, how is that a burden? If you want your prayers to be sacrificial, address them to issues beyond your own personal concerns. Don’t you find this quality attractive in other people? I find it attractive in you too.

Are you prepared to accept that I am present in every act of kindness? You do not struggle with this idea when it concerns yourself and those within your tribe. What about  those who are outside? How far outside? Is it easy to accept when it is another denomination within your same faith? What about other faiths altogether, or none at all? This creates a much different criteria than the nature of the kindness itself. What standard do you think those receiving the kindness would use? Does this challenge your theology?

Is it more important to you to be right or to be loving? Being right is highly regarded in your rational culture, and people find comfort in having a correct understanding, or knowing more than others. Are people as proud of their ability to love or as eager to develop it? Consider the story I told about the Good Samaritan. I intentionally chose someone whose beliefs were in error. Yet my audience could see that it was the one who stopped to help who showed kindness, rather than those of correct doctrine who passed by.