With the news events unfolding over the past two weeks, people are asking—well, at least wondering—this question: “Who is my neighbor? Am I missing something horrible going on in my neighborhood?” I read one story about a pastor who was going through his subdivision, knocking on doors, just introducing himself to his neighbors. Was his motive to find bad guys? Likely not, he was just compelled to take some sort of pro-activity.

It would actually be easy these days to become paranoid and begin to assume anyone we don’t know well is likely up to no good, maybe even pure evil. But wait . . . quite a few people said, “I knew this guy and he seemed very normal. I had no idea he was capable of this.” So then we start to suspect even those who appear normal, thinking the normalcy is just a disguise. Crazy, huh?

As Christians, God never wants us back on our heels, reacting on impulse, being on the defensive with the culture. Jesus certainly never was.

Scripture has always been clear about how we deal with our neighbors. And, as He often did, Jesus redefined our words. He said “neighbor” was not just the person next door, but everyone you encounter. Your neighbor at the office sharing the copier; Your neighbor at the grocery store sharing the aisle; Your neighbor at church on the same pew; Your neighbor three doors down, around the corner, even the next block.

So, in light of recent horrific events, how do we respond as Christians?

1—Love God and love people.

Simple, but still just as true today. Love is involved, not isolated. Love is engaged, not retreating. Love is active, not passive.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” —Mark 12:30-32 NIV

2—Don’t look the other way. Pay attention.

 There are so many circumstances today that could have been stopped had someone just acted on their instinct, gut, or the still, small voice. Maybe not all; but certainly some.

“I am sending you out like sheep with wolves all around you. Be wise like snakes and gentle like doves. —Matthew 10:16 NLV

3—Live as a victor, not a victim.

As our world culture takes on more and more of a victim mentality, this creates an “every man for himself” mindset. Our isolationism quickly overrides our activism. In the end, we win, so we have every opportunity to live, think, and act like it.

Victors change the outcome of the game, while victims complain about the rules and the score.

Victors get involved, risking offense, while victims stay out, assuming people deserve what they get.

Victors impact the culture, while victims are absorbed in it.

 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. —1 John 5:4 NLT

Then on Sunday, I heard pastor Pete Wilson make the statement that we should focus on giving, not getting.

Biblically, this all makes total sense and ties together nicely.

Here’s a very tough, but simple challenge for us all this week . . .

Daily, maybe hourly, let’s ask ourselves two questions:

In this marriage, relationship, friendship, career, job, business deal, church, ministry, setting, or situation, am I focused on . . .

1—Producing or consuming?

2—Giving or getting?

It may be scary how often we realize that we are focused on “what’s in this for me?” It may be scarier still if we realize we are trying to make consuming look like producing. Or a “get” look like a gift. Actually, our flesh can get fairly good at that disguise.

So, what do we do if we discover our motives and goals are completely off with someone or in an area of life?

We may need to . . .

. . . ask God to forgive.

. . . ask forgiveness from someone.

. . . put an end to a situation, relationship, or business deal.

. . . get some counseling or pastoral help.

. . . put some principles in place.

. . . create some accountability.

. . . change some policies.

. . . say no to something.

. . . say yes to something.

. . . ask God for wisdom.

This week, let’s give. In this life, let’s produce, like men of God.

When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. —Jesus in John 15:8 NLT

That sentence struck me and has stuck with me ever since. That’s a strong declaration for us all. That’s not about him; it’s about mankind. Sin—especially when it becomes repetitive or habitual—begins to have a controlling factor, making us into an offender that we don’t like. The Jekyll and Hyde syndrome.

It’s interesting that all of us know exactly what he meant by “what that makes me.” It’s not just the sin itself, but also the residue it creates—guilt, shame, condemnation, and self-doubt, to name a few. And then there’s the distance we can allow it to create from our Heavenly Father.

How long do we take to ask for forgiveness? Wallow awhile in it? Stray further? Sin a little more, since we’ve already given in? Hide? Run?

It’s a good use of reflection and introspection time to ask, in all areas of temptation and sin, what is yours “making you”? Do you want to be “that?” And what residue might actually be affecting your life more than the sin?

My mentor often said, “The cross gives us the opportunity to not sin, whereas without it, we have no choice.”

No matter the temptations, sins, issues, addiction, problems, or residue that any of us struggle with, Christ’s death, resurrection, and redemption gives us hope, a way out, an answer. Does that make it easy? Of course not. But neither was dying on the cross and taking back the keys to Death and Hell.

Today, no matter how loud temptation is screaming your name or how horrible the enemy’s accusations are against you, know that Christ offers hope and forgiveness. The choice to not sin.

If any man says, “Well, you just don’t understand my problem. It’s different. I’ve gone too far.” If that is true, then what means is there is actually something that Jesus didn’t die for, something He can’t change, and that there is something that is impossible for God to do. I believe we all agree that is not true.

Don’t lose hope. Help is available. His name is Jesus. And contrary to the lie any of us may have bought into, He . . .

. . . is faithful and we can depend on Him to forgive us of our sins. He will make our lives clean from all sin. —1 John 1:9 NLV

“Wow, what an arrogant guy! Such a jerk.”

What makes the real difference in these two statements? In these two men? Let’s take a look, because it’s an often misunderstood area for us as guys.

1—Confidence tends to be quiet, while arrogance is usually loud.

Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord, but wise men and women listen to each other’s counsel. —Proverbs 13:10 MSG

Getting loud—however that looks for our personality—usually means we leave confidence and move on to arrogance.

2—Confidence allows others to speak, while arrogance interrupts.

Pride first, then the crash, but humility is precursor to honor. Answering before listening is both stupid and rude. —Proverbs 18:12-13 MSG

Confidence actively listens to what others are saying. Arrogance appears to be listening, but is actually just looking for the next place to speak.

3—Confidence waits for others to recognize his victory, while arrogance announces the score to anyone who will listen.

Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. —1 Corinthians 13:4 CEV

Praises sung always sound best from another mouth.

4—Confidence is like a good offense, while arrogance is like a bad defense.

But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. —1 Thessalonians 5:8 NLT

Anytime we find ourselves acting arrogantly, it is always a defensive tactic. Confidence is pro-active. Arrogance is counter-active.

5—Confidence is found in Christ, while arrogance is focused on self.

Christ now gives us courage and confidence, so that we can come to God by faith. —Ephesians 3:12 CEV

Arrogance and pride—distinguishing marks in the wicked— are just plain sin. —Proverbs 21:4 MSG

Gaining the understanding that our identity and hope are in Christ is a daily battle, but one that is worth the fight for what He can produce in us.

My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. —Psalm 57:7 NLT

Here are two thoughts for today as we fight this on-going battle.

1—Let God change your world—today.

Whatever He’s working on in you, whatever He’s trying to change in you—cooperate. It’s interesting how as we obey and grow, we become more motivated to join Him in loving, reaching, and touching others for Him. In short, when we put Jesus in, Jesus is what comes out.

2—Change someone’s world—today.

It can be intimidating and daunting to “change the world,” but what about finding just one person today that you can impact. An encouraging word, a helping hand, a smile and a compliment, a display of compassion, a call to check on someone, a thank you note, a quiet hug, on and on.

Simple things we can do to step out of our comfort zone and out of our isolation to reach into someone’s world and show the love of Christ can, indeed, change the world for the better. Ours and theirs.

What if for the rest of this week, every day, you told someone the truth about themselves? Not patronizing or manipulating, but if they’re good at something, tell them. If they look sharp, tell them. If they have a positive quality, tell them.

Seek out who it is. Say it. See what happens.

Let’s invite God to work in us and then allow Him to work through us. Simple? Yeah. Easy? No. The right thing to do? Absolutely. If you really want to change the world.

 If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully. Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. —Romans 12:7-9 CEV

Years ago, the band I was in led worship on many occasions prior to Dave Busby speaking. Dave eventually died from cystic fibrosis, after ministering valiantly to thousands for many years while battling the disease.

When Dave spoke to a men’s group, he would always say, “If at the end of this conference, you have 20 things on a list that you need to change, then Satan gave you the list, because you’ll go home, get overwhelmed, and do nothing. But God is going to tell you your one thing that He wants you to work on. Watch for your one thing during our time together.”

I saw the deep truth of that statement and I now carry this principle and advice on when I speak to men. Just this past weekend speaking at an event, during the breaks, as well as after my conference was over, I had men come up and say, “Hey, I got my one thing and I’d like to share it with you.” Now, it’s interesting, because I just tell guys the concept and to watch for theirs. I don’t say “and when you get it, come up and tell me.” But anytime I speak, I always have several guys come to me and share what the Lord revealed to them. There’s always a degree of surprise, conviction, and determination visible in and on them as they share. I know, for those men, the confession creates accountability and sets a goal of moving forward with what God has shown them.

There’s an amazing moment when a man is listening for God to speak, Scripture and an issue are introduced, the Holy Spirit makes the connection, and he responds in obedience.

So, two questions today . . .

1—When was the last time you put yourself in the position to allow God to tell you your “one thing” for this season in life?

2—Are you too distracted and overwhelmed by the “20 things” that Satan keeps hammering you with?

Once God sees us making progress on our “one thing,” He will gracefully show us the next. That’s because He’s a loving Father Who will not exasperate His children or give them more than they can handle. A counselor friend of mine always says, “You peel an onion one layer at a time, so we should allow God to do with our issues in life.”

Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead . . . —Philippians 3:13 NCV

When any of us are asked to give someone our resume´or bio in any professional setting, we work hard to make ourselves sound as good as possible. That’s the point—sell your positives. Play down your negatives.

However, when we sit in the quiet and reflect on our lives, the vast majority of us focuses on the negatives and ignores the positives. We regret, second-guess, and beat ourselves up over the wrong things done and said, or the right things missed and ignored.

In short, there is generally a wide gap between the public image we present and sell and the private image we live with and know all too well.

The reality is, for most of us, the truth is somewhere in the middle. We aren’t the super-heroes that our bios and resumes make us sound like, but we also aren’t the losers we can paint ourselves to be in our moments of question and regret.

The disciples are not only great examples to us, but should be incredible inspirations as well. Take Peter, for example. Look at just these few verses . . .

So I tell you, you are Peter. On this rock I will build my church, and the power of death will not be able to defeat it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . . —Matthew 16:18-19a NCV

Just days later and 3 verses away . . .

Then Jesus said to Peter, “Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important.” —Matthew 16:23 NCV

Today’s simple point is while we can’t believe our own press, we must also learn to bypass the emotional beat-down we give ourselves. We must learn to view ourselves as Jesus does.

As men of flesh with no righteousness of our own, we’re miraculously saved by grace and mercy, free to live under the submission of the power of the Holy Spirit. . . . Now there’s a bio!

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. —John 3:30 NLT

It’s likely that the majority of you reading this own a smartphone. What if I told you that there was a new app that could change your life? It’s free. You just type in these words in the app store search box: “God’s Will,” under the Christian Life tag.

Once you download it, every morning, all you have to do is just open the app, it finds you, it finds today, and then does a satellite link to God. All within seconds. A map comes up on your screen with the little green dot and little red dot with a trail in between that represents your day. As you start out, all you have to do is follow the instructions and you will be given God’s will—every moment, as you go.

No more wondering, wandering, stressing, blowing it and having to ask forgiveness for getting off-track. Just like the Maps app, you simply do what it tells you, go where it says, and you arrive at God’s will.

As awesome and as simple as that sounds, what if your phone battery goes dead? What happens if you lose or break your phone? Get lazy or busy and forget to access the app? What if you disagreed with what it tells you or you decide you prefer to do something else? What if someone made fun of you for using the app? Even challenged you to not use it, but to wing it to see what happens? What other issues might arise from using The God’s Will app?

I think it’s safe to say that if God wanted us to have that, He is creative enough to provide it. Here’s why we will never have that download available . . . He loves us.

He doesn’t give us the end of the day at the start of the day, or divulge where the road leads when we begin, or tell us all the details of the journey, because He loves us. He wants us to walk with Him, talk to Him, listen to Him, live in a relationship with Him, as we walk, as we go—as in “Follow Me”—which, by the way, when Jesus said those words to the fishermen, He didn’t indicate where they would go, or what they’d be doing, or for how long. The instructions to get to God’s will, was simply then, as it is today—“Follow Me.”

App is short for application. The application for us is the journey. The journey is the relationship. The relationship is Jesus. Download . . .

I am the Vine and you are the branches. Get your life from Me. Then I will live in you and you will give much fruit. You can do nothing without Me. —John 15:5 NLV

If you asked me what my fatal flaws are, my problem and struggle areas of life, I could tell you. Easily and quickly. I know them well. Why? Because I am aware, have been for years, and constantly pray and work on them. I bet you’re the same way.

There’s a decent chance that if you and I keep these in check, we may not succumb to their fire in our lives. But let me present a different side to this issue.

What about those flaws that we are blinded to? The ones that our wives, kids, friends, and co-workers see regularly that we just don’t . . . see. How do you battle those? Actions, words, and attitudes we have that can be ugly at times and we just flat out miss them? How can you stop something you can’t—or maybe won’t—recognize?

There are personal issues in our lives that our families and others close to us deal with, that often they just endure, or occasionally cause conflict, and we just dismiss or ignore it. The honest and brutal truth is as humans, we all have these blind spot issues.

I don’t know about you, but it is a tough moment when my wife has to talk to me about one of these. It is really hard for her and hard for me. In an honest, growing marriage, this is necessary communication, but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard and doesn’t hurt.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a first line of defense (or maybe offense is a better word) that dealt with me and you in this area, so our wives, kids, pastor, or boss wouldn’t have to?

This is where—yes, once again—our Christian brothers can be such a huge blessing in the hand of God. We give permission, they express both truth and grace, and we can change in a non-volatile environment.

Who has permission to speak these things to you? If something were a blind spot to you, who could tell you that you would receive from?

Let’s keep fighting our battles on our known flaws, but let’s also make sure there are brothers who can battle for and with us to attack the hidden, yet hostile land mines we all have.

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. —Ephesians 4:15 NLT

We see an amazing transformation in the lives of Jesus’ disciples from the day they dropped their nets to the days after Jesus ascended into Heaven. Men full of doubts and questions, now preaching and healing in His name. Normal men and women daily living out a supernatural lifestyle. What happened to them? The life of Jesus became their life. His way became their way. His truth became their truth. The exact same thing that God wants to do with me and you.

If our faith is going to be authentic—not American-cultural-religious-real, but real like the disciples—it can’t be an item on our weekly to-do list. In fact, it’s not on our checklist—it is the list!

Consider the waffle. Golden brown with a grid of perfect, little compartments. That is often how we think of and view our lives. We have our spouse compartment, kid department, job compartment, friend compartment, extended family compartment, sports compartment . . . oh, and the church compartment.

But here comes the syrup, pouring out onto and flowing over it all. Running down into and filling up every compartment, so now you don’t see all those divided sections, as much as you now see a covered and saturated delicacy. That’s a very simple analogy of Jesus covering our lives. He doesn’t go neatly into one or two little squares. He soaks, drenches, and floods our entire being.

Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got! —Deuteronomy 6:5 MSG