Do you take your kids to restaurants to learn restaurant manners? Why would they need two sets of manners? If they have one good set, it will serve them well in all situations. Moreover, it will serve them well with all people they encounter. But is this the way you really live? Do you show the same dignity, courtesy, and honor to those who serve you as to those who outrank you at work or church or in everyday life? My word cautions you not to shame or despise the poor. It isn’t hard to have one good set of manners. You already know how to show deference to those above you. The hard part is applying that set to everyone. 

Do you seek to avoid suffering? My word promises that all who seek to follow me will encounter persecution, so you may not be able to avoid it. No one seeks it out, but cherishes and nourishes his own flesh. The question is what lengths you are willing to go to avoid suffering. If this is a big priority for you then you will find you are tormented by smaller and smaller things. Then the minor annoyances of life will take on even greater proportions and you will suffer more rather than less. You can reverse this trend if following me is your top priority. Then you will be able to overlook ever greater offenses until you consider them to be light afflictions not worthy to be compared to the glory to come. 

My word says that in the last days knowledge would increase. Without setting a timeline for end-time events would you say that this has happened? It seems that a database of all the facts in the world is available continuously to nearly everyone everywhere. Would you say that there has been a corresponding increase in spirituality? How has one not lead to the other? Does this lead you to question the assumption that knowledge is the measure of all things? My word says that knowledge puffs up. He who is spiritual judges all things, but you have to ask the right questions and walk the right path to get there. 

Do you draw a sharp dividing line between the sacred and the secular? Are spiritual activities few and narrowly defined, with special times, places, and rituals, and everything else is secular by default? This is a common assumption by both believers and unbelievers, but you don’t have to look at things this way. You take it as an article of faith that you live in a world that I created, and that you were made alive by receiving divine breath. I have promised to be with you always. The more you look for my presence in everyday events, the more you will see it. If it isn’t obvious, ask me what my purpose is in every situation and I will show you.