A Challenge within me.

This past few weeks have been pretty crazy with everything going on as of late but this week I was away on business and had a chance to do some extra reading and thinking.
On Friday I was trying to spend sometime preparing my heart for the World Vision Experience going on at Colonial Church in Edina, MN. Check it out here www.wvexperience.org . In doing this I came across a verse that definitely got me thinking about who I am in Christ and what the Lord is doing in me (1John 3:18). I have included the surrounding verses a little more context and thought.
1 John 3: 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

These verses really got me thinking because of how things in the past week have really come together and a lot of them can all be tied in some way to these verses.
First off in v16 I had heard this week or read this week somewhere the question possed would I be willing to lay down my life for one of my friends? This could be anyone from a good friend to an acquaintance. The sad thing here for me is that I don’t know that I could say a resounding yes right away without thinking about it. In my heart I would want this to be an immediate yes no matter what but instead it took some time for me to think and evaluate and really why would one friend be any different than the other. Jesus didn’t think of one person better than another. I am a sinner and no different than a person who has committed any other sin no matter what it is.
v17. is something that has been on my mind for years and is always good to be reminded off.
V18. Is the verse that got me to this section and this is why. I have been reading the book True North by Bill George as of late and Tuesday on my flight to Maryland I read this. “Think of your life like a house, with a bedroom for your personal life, a study for your professional life, a family room for your family, and a living room to share with your friends. Can you knock down the walls between these rooms and be the same person in each of them?” Now this to me ties directly to verse 18 how I was thinking these past days. Could I really knock down the walls and if I did am I the same person at work as I am at say Bible Study, hanging out with my Christian friends, at church or with my immediate family or extended family. Do I say one thing and do another? Do my actions represent who I say I am? Is this a real life a life of integrity focused on the Lord that I lead? I guess I just want to be able to answer all these questions in a way that is pleasing to the Lord without one ounce of hesitation.