Are you effective at persuading other people? Since you have the message of life you don’t get to opt out, even if you don’t consider yourself to be gifted in this area. Some people are better than others at this, but there are guidelines that everyone can follow. Have you ever been attacked and humiliated? Did you find this persuasive or did it trigger a defensive reaction in you to cling to what you knew even if it was wrong? Other people experience the same thing. Do you admire boldness in the presentation of the gospel? Do you also admire humble entreaty, patience and forbearance?

Do you believe in the idea of the chosen and elect? So do I. So how can you tell them from others? You could look for those who lay down their life, and pick up their cross and follow me. You could look for those who have been sifted like wheat, and submitted to the refiner’s fire. You could look at those who always bear about my death in their own bodies. What about those who are last, being a spectacle unto me, and to angels, and to men; the off-scouring of the world, yet those of whom the world was not worthy? So there really are the chosen and elect.

Are you ever discouraged at your current state of advancement, and the slow rate at which you are making progress? If you take a journey you can estimate your arrival time by doing a time, rate, and distance calculation. If you know your current position and how far you have to go and your rate of travel you can figure it out. Your spiritual journey does not lend itself to such easy calculations. Do not despair at what you see as a lack of progress, or your slow rate of moving ahead. As long as you are consciously engaged in the journey I will get you where you need to be in time.

Do you know any celebrities? Some countries have official royalty, and those that don’t have celebrities which are unofficial royalty. The term implies celebration. Are there some people whose accomplishments are so great that you should honor them or throw a party for them whenever you see them? What sort of accomplishments are worthy of this? Academic and intellectual? Military heroes? Athletes? Entertainers? Do you know of anyone with spiritual achievement who is considered a celebrity? Perhaps your culture has a distorted view of what really matters.