Each day you face many different types of decisions. One of these is how you will view your neighbor. You might ask, "Who is my neighbor?" And I would reply, "Each person you encounter." When we meet someone, we often go one of two ways: we notice our differences or we discover what we have in common. The choice is completely yours. The easy choice is to notice our differences. Differences can be quickly discovered. However, it takes time to discover our common bonds.

Choose today to discover common bonds. Here are some suggestions that will help you do this.

1. Ask, "What did you do for fun as a kid?" You will most often find that this question leads to a fun conversation about their upbringing.

2. Another similar question is, "Where did you grow up? And, what was unique about it?"

3. Look for common bonds: our kids, our sports team, how flipping hot it is (in KC anyway), and maybe even our faith in Jesus.

Or, we can remain divided...we could focus on the color of our skin and the language we speak. We could focus on our political opinion. Or focus on our sexual orientation.

This is just my observation, it's really hard to love your neighbor when your yelling at them, making fun of them, or condemning them. It's a lot easier to love when we focus on our commonalities.

Remember this, and I've learned this from one of my mentors, Dan...The enemy wants to: Divide, Distract, and Discourage. Let's not give that ole devil any space in our life. Let's follow the command of our Jesus and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Have a blessed day,

Pastor Matt