A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. The Scriptures from this past weekend lead us to some very important questions. We know that we are called to love the Lord with all our Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength, and Love our neighbor as ourselves, but how do we figure out how to do that in the everyday realities of life? How do we move from knowledge to wisdom? For many of us, we know the good we ought to do, but aren’t seeing a transformational love coming out of our lives with increasing regularity.

And since most Christians aren’t experiencing a life that is much different from those who don’t go to church, it makes us consider other questions. Do we really know God? Are we listening for His Guidance in our lives? How can we know that we know God and are living in the Spirit? Do we really understand how to love God and others? The Scriptures paint a picture of how to go about seeking God’s wise path. I define wisdom as knowledge applied to life that makes life work the way it is supposed to work. And our lives are supposed to be fully alive in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are supposed to be experiencing and expressing the Love of God in ever increasing ways. So much so that God’s supernatural power flows through us to a world in desperate need of His love. As we move from knowledge to wisdom and begin to live by faith, we will also begin to understand what it means to walk in the authority and power of God in this world and we will watch as God transforms lives through us.

Learn more about “experiential knowledge” by enjoying the video of the sermon given by Rev. Pankau by clicking the link below.

The Journey from Knowledge to Wisdom: The Cycle of Love

Studies have shown that many pastors and church staff are burning out. They feel the pressure to preach and create programs and events that entertain and inspire congregants, many of whom hardly serve in their church.   This means added work for church staff and the faithful volunteers who shoulder most of the weight.

The current state is taking its toll. Pastors and church staff are working long hours to keep up, and as a result are spending less time connecting with the Lord, their families and friends. It’s no surprise, then, that they become spiritually and relationally disconnected.   This often leads to feelings of loneliness, emptiness and depression, exactly what Satan wants.   Disconnected individuals are more susceptible to temptations such as sexual sin, over eating or substance abuse, each illegitimate ways to treat emotional pain. Clearly, this is a problem. What can be done?

Eliminating pastor and church staff burnout requires a change of thinking and behavior. Job one is to teach the members of a local Christian body what a healthy Christian community looks like and how it contrasts with communities that are inconsistent with Christianity.

In helping people develop a vision for the Christian life, we like to begin with Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that describes Christians as being connected supernaturally, united as one body with the Trinity. Ask people to imagine what this might look like to have a local “church family” that is one with the Trinity. Show them Scripture verses that help them see that a Christian community is a church family that is marked by Christian love and humility, and where people serve one another, consider others as better than themselves, and seek the opinions of others. When we live submitted to the guidance and power of God and intentionally build a “Connection Culture” with one another, God produces much fruit through our lives and extends His Kingdom in a reproductive way. All truth is God’s truth so we like to show people the research from a variety of fields including psychology, neuroscience and history that proves connection helps us flourish in life from the time we are infants to our twilight years. By engaging the members into the mission, pastors can focus on their primary roles of equipping the body for works of ministry and they will discover the power of the body of Christ moving towards full strength. This is a very engaging place for pastors as well as congregants. It is an awesome thing to witness the Holy Spirit uniting/connecting a local body of believers who together are learning practically what is means to be “in Christ.”

If people are going to understand the need for such movement toward connection they need to first see that connection is waning in most churches today as people try to self-help their way to become disciples, even though it isn’t possible. Many people have been deceived into accepting the following myths which are obstacles to developing Chrsitlikeness and connection:

• Myth 1: “God helps those who help themselves” (according to Barna Research, the most quoted “Bible” verse in America among adult and teen believers); therefore we can self-help our way to Christlikeness. Problem: It is indicative that most Christians have not been trained well enough in how to submit to God and abide in Christ to know that this quote does not come from the Bible. Too many are living in and through their own guidance and power. As a result, their experience of the abundant life and their witness to the watching world are diminished and they don’t experience the power of the Holy Spirit moving in and through them.

• Myth 2: My relationship with God is a private matter, including my sins, so I will stay out of your business and I expect you to stay out of mine. Problem: There is a reluctance by many Christians to enter into Biblically functioning covenant community and make a commitment that they perceive may interfere or limit their lifestyle or plans.

• Myth 3: I will mature as a Christian by going to worship services, praying and reading my Bible once in a while. Problem: Biblical truth is often presented in isolated (topical) form without a good understanding of how it fits into the Christian life as a whole, promoting the compartmentalizing of the Christian’s life. Also, there is an assumption that the appropriation of Biblical knowledge by itself will lead to spiritual maturity.

• Myth 4: Jesus is our savior but doesn’t really require us to relate to Him as the Lord of our lives. We are all just doing the best we can to be good people. Problem: The church community typically focuses on making converts rather than making disciples.

• Myth 5: It is the job of professional clergy to do the work of ministry and the “priesthood of all believers” is not practical or a good thing to encourage at our church. Problem: To influence many people simultaneously is generally considered the method of choice. Personal one-on-one discipleship appears to be too time-consuming, energy consuming, and inefficient.

As a result of these myths and problems, 70 percent of church-going Christians are disconnected. They show up on Sunday for inspiration or out of a sense of obligation but they hardly serve, give, seek the Lord or cooperate with the Holy Spirit to grow in Christlikeness. And they will not come to know the joy that surpasses understanding until they connect with the body of Christ.

Research clearly shows why the church in North America is dying: disconnected congregants stop giving and eventually leave. A 2008 survey by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University found that of the 38 percent of people in the survey who ended their support to at least one non-profit organization in the prior year, nearly 60 percent said they did so because they felt disconnected from the group. An online survey by Crosswalk.com recently concluded that 34 percent of people who attend church leave because of a lack of personal connections there and 53 percent agree that the primary reason they currently attend a place of worship is because of the friendships (i.e. connection) they’ve established.

From our research and experience as leadership and engagement experts who work with churches, businesses and government organizations, we know that the solution to struggling churches is both spiritual and systemic in nature. Churches flourish when people connect with God through Jesus Christ, with one another in Christian community, and with their calling of servanthood. A simple way to remember this is connection with Christ, community and calling. This creates what we’ve referred to as a “Connection Culture.” When these connections are in place it develops a holistic, transformational, disciple-making church community that mobilizes people to serve in the Spirit. It creates the church that Jesus said “all the powers of hell would not overcome” (Matthew 16:18). A church that develops a Connection Culture will find its staff fired up, not burned out, because people in the community are praying, growing, serving and giving.

Last year, I (Michael) went to visit one of the world’s leading churches and it was evident that connection is everywhere. Holy Trinity Brompton (“HTB” for short), an Anglican parish in London, is flourishing. As I observed the congregation and attended services, spoke with past and current congregants, and met with church leaders, it was clear that at the core of HTB you will find that people connect with Christ, community and calling. HTB is expanding into satellite church buildings owned by the Church of England in the greater London area that would otherwise be in danger of closing or have already been shuttered due to dwindling congregations. In addition to multi-site growth, HTB plants a new church nearly every month and aims to ramp up to planting 20 new churches a year. To train pastors, church leaders, and laypeople, HTB established a theological college, St. Paul’s Theological Centre. To train worship leaders, HTB launched Worship Central Academy last September.

Outside of the UK, HTB is perhaps best known as the church that developed Alpha, a 10-week course that introduces participants to the core beliefs of the Christian faith. To say that the Alpha course has been successful would be an understatement. The global reach of Alpha is breathtaking.   Since its launch in the late 1970s, more than 16 million individuals have completed the course. It is supported by all the major Christian denominations. At present, approximately 50,000 Alpha courses are being taught in 169 countries and in 112 languages.

To learn more about HTB and connection, read the case study found at this link: Alpha Church: The Church Flourishes When People Connect. At the conclusion of the case study, you’ll find 12 questions designed for pastors and church leaders to examine their own church culture and help them strengthen it. We encourage you to share the case study with others, too.

To start thinking about how a Connection Culture can transform your church, we invite you to sign up to attend a free webinar we are doing entitled “Protecting Pastors from Burnout.” It will take place next Tuesday, January 24, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (Central Standard Time).

In summary, when pastors and church leaders develop Spirit-led cultures that connect people to Christ, community and their calling, pastor and church staff burnout becomes obsolete as vibrant members of the body of Christ actively pray, grow, serve and give. If the movement to connect and unite the body of Christ continues to grow, all the world’s present church buildings will be insufficient to hold the billions who see the Spirit of unity in love present in our churches and seek to know its Source.

We should have no doubts that we are in a spiritual war. Many are in denial about that – but then experience the adverse effects anyway. The great irony is that God doesn’t want us to engage in this combat with grim faces and depressed spirits. He wants us to know that He will do the fighting in us and through us, as He enables those who serve Him to draw on His peace.

As in secular warfare, moving away from certain protections can increase our vulnerability. A good friend of Life Spring Network was sent to Vietnam as an infantry marine in the early months of that war and found himself assigned to a remote outpost. As he sat out on a bunker each night, he actually felt quite safe because of the open area surrounding the outpost and the availability of artillery from other locations. But each time he was sent outside the outpost on a patrol in the nearby jungle, he felt more vulnerable than he ever imagined he would over there.

The fortress we need in our lives is God, and that is the fortress we are promised at all times (Psalm 46). We need not – nor should we dare to venture out beyond that into the realm of sin or self-leadership. If we are attacked while we are inside the fortress, the key is to focus on God’s authority and power, rather than on the threats.

We have the opportunity to live in a condition of what might be called general authority, that is, authority that prevails whether we are threatened or not. If we are a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9), then we can live in that state of general authority. We’re not pretending that spiritual enemies don’t exist, but it’s best not to focus more than momentarily on them before affirming the fullness and holiness that are ours through the blood of Christ.

If we focus on the negatives and enter new situations fearful of adverse consequences, we are more likely to encounter adversity and less likely to overcome it. By contrast, if we prepare ourselves each day by focusing on the Spirit of Christ, filling us and surrounding us, we find ourselves experiencing the abundant life, taking hold of the life that’s truly life (1 Tim 6:19). If we do encounter dark forces, we will be focusing automatically on God’s guidance and power, which renders dark forces powerless.

Begin each day by asserting the fullness of the authority that God has invested in us as Christians. It’s an authority that is consistent with humility, because it’s grounded in our dependence on Almighty God. We’re not “lording it over” others, and yet we will not be allowed by adverse circumstances to be knocked out of our standing of being much-loved children of God. As we use God’s authority in us, claiming His protection, we can expect to move in ever-higher planes of true freedom.

We can move in His protection as well. As American poet J.G. Whittier expressed it: “I know not where His islands lift / Their fronded palms in air; / I only know I cannot drift / Beyond His love and care.”

“[David] cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.” Psalm 78:72 (NLT).

Research by psychologist K. Anders Erikson has shown that it requires approximately 10,000 hours of intentional practice, with coaching, to achieve a high degree of excellence in any endeavor.  Ten thousand hours is roughly equivalent to ten years of putting in 20 hours of practice a week.  The importance of perseverance and practice is obvious.

Every bit as essential to achieve excellence, yet less obvious, is the importance of the character strengths of humility and love.  Humility encourages us to seek and truly accept coaching and mentoring, and love is what allows us to give and receive the relational support of others needed to persevere through the inevitable ups and downs of life.

Years ago I (Michael) met and spoke with Andre Agassi when he was playing a tennis tournament in Burbank, California.  This was during a period when Agassi had fallen from being one of the top players in the world to being so lowly ranked that it was difficult for him to get into major tournaments.  Andre had the skills but just wasn’t playing anywhere near the top of his game.  The Burbank tournament was the turning point.  Agassi won the tournament and went on to return to the ranks of the top tennis players in the world.  What happened?

Agassi attributed his turnaround to the guidance, support, encouragement and love he received from his wife (tennis great Steffi Graf), his coach, and other family members and friends.  Before that time, Agassi had isolated himself.  He was trying to self-help his way back to excellence.  It is likely that he had grown lonely. When Andre humbled himself to accept coaching and connect relationally with a group of individuals whom he loved and who loved him, that’s when he began improving his performance.

I remember seeing Agassi walk around at the tournament and talk to people.  There were several policemen there and I recall observing him chatting with each of them.  When fans wanted an autograph, he patiently waited and signed each program or tennis ball.  Andre was humble and more grounded than I had expected.

One key to Agassi’s comeback is that he had developed greater heart.   The French word for heart is coeur, which is the root of the word courage.   By admitting he could not come back on his own and reaching out for the help of others, Andre showed courage.  Encourage means to share one’s heart with another.  Along with the advice of his coach, Andre’s loving family and friends shared their hearts and encouraged him.

A formulaic phrase we use when speaking and teaching at organizations we want to help thrive is this:

task excellence + relationship excellence = sustainable superior performance.

Time and again we’ve witnessed that it can’t only be about the tasks of an organization; people, and specifically connection among the people, is equally critical.  We see it here too.  Years of time on the tennis court plus the connection Agassi developed with his relational support system was one key to his rising to once again be among the top-ranked tennis players in the world.

This message — the need for love and encouragement, and for humility to accept advice from a coach or mentor — is especially relevant now when research has shown that many individuals feel left out and have isolated themselves relationally.  Research shows that people are more narcissistic and more people live alone today than at any time in U.S. history.   A quarter of Americans report they have not had a conversation with a close friend over the last six months.  They are struggling, like Andre did, and they desperately need our help to develop the courage, the heart, to take the risk of reaching out to connect with family and friends.   We need to encourage them, to share our hearts with them, so that they can find the heart to reconnect.  If a friend or family member has come to mind, we hope you will pray for them and reach out to encourage him or her by sharing your heart.

In summary, if you want to achieve excellence in any endeavor, it will require years of persistent practice, humility to learn from a coach who will help you see what you can’t such as your blind spots and advice on how to improve, and the courage to love family and friends. Your love will nourish them with emotional support and encouragement just as their love and encouragement will nourish you.   Encouraged and loved, you’ll find you can persevere through the peaks and valleys you’ll encounter along the way.

It’s surprising, isn’t it, that developing one’s heart is an essential but rarely mentioned element to achieve excellence.  It’s no wonder then that Jesus had so much to say about the heart.  Like Andre Agassi, you may achieve excellence for a season, but it is utterly unsustainable unless you develop, as Psalm 78:72 points out, a “true heart.”

When thinking about the changes you need to make in the new year to become more like Jesus, take time to reflect on your attitudes.  This process can be quite revealing. We speak of the “law of attitude,” which states: “Choosing godly attitudes toward life brings focus to the journey of transformation and prepares us to experience and express love abundantly in any situation.”

How often do you spend time examining your attitudes?  If you’re like us, you’re naturally inclined to operate on autopilot.  One of the most important aspects of the journey of transformation is regularly examining our attitudes and choosing those that are godly. Changing our attitudes requires both the willingness to reflect and humbly be examined by God, and the courage to change.  By submitting to God and allowing the Holy Spirit to examine our attitudes, we can discover the autonomic response system that has been trained into our lives by the root system of our beliefs and behavior.

Read the following list, invite the Holy Spirit to search you and reveal any attitudinal adjustments that you need to focus on in the next season of your life.

-I believe that God wants to make His guidance available to me, and I will seek His guidance and acknowledge Him as Lord in every situation.

-I need God’s guidance in every aspect of my life to truly live as His follower.

-I will always seek to see things from God’s perspective before choosing a course of action.

-I will engage God’s training in righteousness for my life and believe in the God-empowered self-control that I receive each day, and each hour of each day, to obey God and resist temptation.

-When I am tempted toward impurity or wrong desires, I will be still before the Lord, flee evil and wait for Him, remembering that I must depend on Him to keep me.

-I will live as a disciple, striving to become more like Jesus in every area of my life.

-I will repent continually and confess my sins, receiving the forgiveness and strengthening of God to resist sin in the future.

-I will love and forgive those who sin against me even when my natural feelings aren’t consistent with love.

-I will receive God’s grace for my life and live as His ambassador of reconciliation in the world.

-Life is a gift of time, talents, relationships, opportunities and treasure that I will gratefully steward as God leads.

-I accept the peace Christ gives me and will not allow my heart to be troubled or let it be afraid.

-In any need I have – material or psychological – I will seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, trusting in him to provide for me and those I pray for and love.

-I will glorify God with my life and draw on His faith within me in every situation that challenges me.

-I will obediently submit to God’s guidance and power in all circumstances and live with joy as more than a conqueror so that I might experience and express the Glory of God in my life.

-I believe that all I have and all that I am exists for God’s glory.

-If any greatness comes through my life and blesses others, it is God who does it, and I will direct all praise to Him for it.

-I have decided to live as a worshipper and glorify God in every aspect of my life.

-God has called and equipped me to serve others and I will serve faithfully in His strength.

-I believe in and rely on the Holy Spirit, who lives within me, and I will allow Him to express the love of God through me and exercise His power against all temptation and evil.

-I’ve made the decision that ‘I will trust in him and not be afraid,’ (Isaiah 12:2) regardless of circumstances.

-Because God has empowered me for service through my faith in Him and His faith within me, I will consecrate my life to the service of God and others, abstaining increasingly from self-indulgence and self-centered motives. I’ve decided to make loving service my aim in life.

-I am accepted into God’s family through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

-I will draw on and exercise the compassion of Christ within me in situations where I see need.

-I will live in covenant community as a member of God’s family welcoming in all who desire to join.

Commitment is only realistic after a firm decision has been made. Following up on that should be regular reminders and action steps, applying our decisions to the concrete circumstances and projects of everyday life, so that our decisions don’t go the way of too many New Year’s resolutions. Watch for our next devotional shortly after the new year. Merry Christmas!

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Tim 4:7-8)

We might think of training to be godly in terms of departing from the way that we approach life when we are guided by sinful worldly thinking and embracing God’s guidance and power in our lives.  In order to have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales, we need to submit every day in every way to the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We need to ask Him to search us and know us and then to reveal to us any wicked ways that live in us.  As He reveals our sins to us we need to confess these sins to God and holistically repent. This is the process of taking every thought captive to Christ and engaging His training in righteousness. As God reveals to us the different patterns of thought and behavior that He desires for us to pursue, we then embark on our new training plan. Each and every Christian who is taking the commands of Christ seriously and living under His Lordship will discover this ever evolving personal growth plan.  As the Spirit brings conviction into our lives and we submit to His truth, we then repent of our sin, discover His righteous path and begin walking in it in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Two disciplines that become essential in this process are the disciplines of praying and practicing – praying to receive more of the fruit of the Spirit and then practicing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Let’s consider training in regard to love. Consider the experience of a salesman of our acquaintance who was meeting continually with strangers, and who felt led by God to focus more on trying to see everything from their perspective. In due course, he found that he had truly developed an ability to care, quite apart from whether he succeeded in his sales effort. This experiment led to other successful efforts to be more intentional about loving those around him.

What about joy? Can we train ourselves in joy? Standing out prominently in the Old Testament among the things that God hates is “murmuring,” or complaining. There is no suggestion that the causes of murmuring never really existed, but it is clear that the relationship with God requires that the attitude of ingratitude should be replaced by an attitude of thanksgiving and praise. In other words, it’s a decision, not a mere response to natural circumstances.  Unfortunately, it is a decision that we can only make as we are abiding in Christ, left up to our own sinful desires and strength we drift away from joy.

Joy can be intentional. When St. Paul was being held in a dungeon at Philippi, his situation surely couldn’t have been a natural cause for celebration. But in the Acts of the Apostles we read that St. Paul was rejoicing and singing. He knew that God seemed to be allowing such events in his life to train him in what we might call “righteous rejoicing.”

This applies as well to peace and patience. A great Quaker writer, Hannah Whitall Smith, reported that she prayed for more patience and that just after her prayer her cleaning lady broke a valuable piece of china. To Smith, this seemed like God granting her an immediate opportunity to exercise the gift that He was more than willing to bestow. Her acceptance of this was her way of training herself in the art of living under God and above circumstances.

In another situation, a friend of ours took a job in an office where the boss turned out to have the temperament that ranged from volatile to over-the-top volcanic. Our friend wasn’t typically the object of these tirades, which were usually poured out over the telephone line. Still, he found his inner state to be a foaming cauldron most of each day — at least before it dawned on him that he could counteract the effects of this toxic person by engaging God’s training in peace. This he did each morning before work by soaking himself in certain scriptures, reading them very slowly. In addition, when the ordinary inconveniences of life occurred, such as traffic delays, he formed the habit of drawing on God’s peace. As a result, his emotions at the office became, in the words of the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, “like the ticking of a clock in a thunderstorm.”

Let’s resolve this week to pray and practice, that is, to pray for the fruit of the Spirit to be made manifest more obviously in our lives and then to put into practice what we know He wants us to have.

“…the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.”  - From the Thanksgiving Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln

It was for freedom that Christ set us free (Gal 5:1) Freedom itself – true, deep, inner freedom – is itself a blessing which comes only from God and is worthy of our fullest gratitude, being brimful of joy and peace. The Holy Spirit, as He guides and empowers us, sets us free from sin and self and fear.

The aspect of this freedom of that goes unnoticed among many of our contemporaries is that our freedom actually has a purpose from God’s perspective.

A friend of ours was congratulated recently on being retired. The well-wisher, standing in our friend’s living room, declared, “Well, here’s the sofa. There’s the TV. You’re good to go!”

Superficially that might sound like freedom. In reality, true inner freedom doesn’t emerge until we take advantage of it for service and sacrifice. Augustine said, “In His service is perfect freedom.”  To embrace this paradox is to hold one of the keys to the higher Christian life.  As we submit to God and live by faith we will experience the life that is truly life! (1 Timothy 6)

When he comes to set us free, His ministry in us eliminates not just the more obvious forms of slavery, such as to some addiction, but also the false freedoms. The most widely advertised of these is the freedom to pursue a life of self-indulgence.

Threatening our inner freedom now is an epidemic of isolation and narcissism. Many are in what the classic Christian writer George McDonald called the “dungeon of the self.” God wants not only to give us freedom but to become our freedom.  It is linked indissolubly with our abiding in Christ and His abiding in us. He wants us to experience “the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Rom 8:21)

God yearns to work mightily in us and through us, and as we experience Him, we come alive to the nature of Christian service. It isn’t a price to be paid but an opportunity to be seized! An easy way for this point to become obvious is to reflect on those lives that we honor in retrospect. At a funeral, for instance, it would be rare to hear a recitation of one’s academic or professional distinctions but not unusual to hear about someone having been a loving parent or loyal friend.  Those attending should know that when these praises ring true, they reflect God’s work made manifest in that person’s life.  For it is the good that God does through us that is truly memorable and makes an impact for all eternity!

This isn’t to deny a place for play, rest, and celebration. We have freedom for those things too. Indeed we have freedom to live confidently, affirming that we can draw upon God’s peace. Let us then be thankful, deeply thankful in advance for the increased measure of freedom that we will experience as we submit to God and He accomplishes His purposes through us!

During the webinar, Mike recommends the following resources:

1. Read Alpha Church: The Church Flourishes When People Connect

2. Watch Jason Pankau present the Creating a Connection Culture webinar at this link (scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the video).

3. Read about two Christians, CNO Admiral Vern Clark and Bono of U2, in a Leader to Leader Journal article on the Leader to Leader Institute’s website at this link.

A friend of mine who was adept at handling theological concepts was prone to remark that he found that much easier than relationships. In fact he said he wished sometimes that the Christian life were just a matter of understanding theology.

Underscoring our need to focus on relationships are the 58 “one-anothers” in the New Testament, the exhortations that spell out how this critically challenging yet critically important part of our lives should work.

For our meditation now, let’s focus on several key “one-anothers” and apply them with the power of the Holy Spirit to our relationships with individuals we will encounter today or in the near future.

Step one: Review the following eight “one-anothers:”

• “… Love one another…” John 13:34
• “Live in harmony with one another…” Romans 12:16
• “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you…” Romans 15:7
• “Be patient, bearing with one another in love” Ephesians 4:2
• “…Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another” Colossians 3:13
• “Encourage one another daily…” Hebrews 10:25
• “…Spur one another on toward love and good deeds” Hebrews 10:24
• “…Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another…” 1 Peter 5:5

Step two: Think of several individuals who you’ll be dealing with very soon, whether in person or on the phone

Step three: Consider how each of the “one anothers” applies in connection with each of these individuals, regardless of whether any relational problem is expected. One or more of them should be applicable.

It might be said that all 58 of the “one-anothers” could be summarized in four simple words: “Make love your aim.” (1 Cor 14:1– RSV).