Have you heard it said that you can have it all? This idea is only accepted in affluent cultures, but even there it isn’t true. You have vast opportunities available to you but your finite capacities force you to make choices. Haven’t you observed this already, that those who claim to be able to have it all end up so scattered and diffused that they don’t really excel at anything? Consider the high achievers you know. Don’t they focus their effort on a few things and do them well? The direction of your life will be determined by your choices. Do you understand that saying no to some things is necessary for the full and abundant life I promise you?

The history of my interaction with people started with encounters with individuals such as Abraham and Moses and Jacob. Further along I proposed an encounter with all my people at once, but as the time approached it was too intimate for them and they came up with plan B; that Moses would meet with me and serve as an intermediary, to relay my expectations back to the people. Have you seen this same dynamic in effect ever since, including current times, that people prefer not to deal with me directly? This is their preference, and there is never a shortage of volunteers to be the middle man, but it is not what I prefer. I want a direct encounter with each of my people. Is this what you want? Can you handle it?

What is your response when you receive a compliment? Do you feel obligated to contradict the person who gives it and say that they are wrong? This is false humility and goes against the kind intent that was offered. True humility can accept a compliment graciously without being false, arrogant or conceited. This is being considerate of the person giving the compliment as well. Put yourself in their place. I said that it was more blessed to give than to receive; but it is more blessed to receive than to reject. Be generous in both the giving and receiving of compliments.

What is your approach to prayer? Do you see it as a way to get what you want; to get me to do what you want? There are plenty of verses in the Bible to assure you that you can have anything you ask for. Are you willing to reconsider your perspective on prayer, and see it as a way to get you to want what I wanted all along; that you should be conformed to me rather than the other way around? These positions may seem like polar opposites but they don’t need to be in conflict as much as it would appear. If your heart is true to me we will both want the same thing, and both get our own way.