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Are you looking to enhance your understanding of Everybody, Always by Bob Goff? How can these Everybody, Always discussion questions help you relate the book’s messages to your own life?
Everybody, Always is Bob Goff’s book about becoming love. Below we have put together a series of questions relating to the book to help you understand Goff’s messages even better.
Continue on for Everybody, Always discussion questions.
Everybody, Always Discussion Questions
What does it mean to live like Jesus and become love in the world? That is the question Bob Goff attempts to answer in Everybody, Always. Through spiritual guidance and examples from his own life, Bob provides a blueprint for how to grow deeper in your faith and become the person God meant for you to be. Part of fulfilling your purpose in God’s world is learning to open yourself up to His love and mirror it back to others. If you can find the courage to live as Jesus did, you will experience the power of His love in your life.
Below are Everybody, Always discussion questions to help you relate the book to your own life.
Keep Your Opinions to Yourself
Many of us believe we know what’s best for the people in our lives, and some of us extend that belief to people we don’t know. What makes us feel this way, and how can we learn to keep our opinions to ourselves?
- Think of the last time you gave someone advice on what they should do with their life. Who was it, and what was the advice?
- Why did you feel compelled to advise them? What did you fear would happen if this person didn’t take your advice?
- What are two positive characteristics of this person and what they’re capable of?
- How can you reshape your advice from an opinion to a statement that might help this person see who they are and still find a positive way forward?
Get Over Your Shame
When we mess up or do something to hurt another, we often feel ashamed. This shame makes us vulnerable and afraid to face others, but to stay within a place of love, we must find a way to reach out to those we fear.
- What was the last thing you did that made you feel ashamed? Did you hurt someone, act immorally, or screw up something important?
- How did you handle the situation after you felt ashamed? How did this reaction affect your life and relationships?
- What steps could you take to remove your shame or mend the damage done by your actions?
- In what ways would addressing your shame and ensuing personal consequences help your life and relationships moving forward?
Fail Better
God does not want us to be perfect. He wants us to try to live with love. But our fear of failing and our shame often impede our growth. We must learn to see failure as a foundation from which to grow.
- Think of a recent time when you felt like a failure. What were the circumstances and how did you fail?
- Who else was affected by your perceived failure, and how were they affected?
- What lessons did you take away from this event that opened a path for personal growth?
- How would you behave differently if you believed your failure was part of God’s path for you?
- In what way will you approach your failures and those of others differently in the future?
Make Love a Habit, Not an Act
It’s easier said than done to promise to love everyone all the time, so the moments when you are able to feel significant. You may want to boast about the good things you’ve done for others, but you need to learn to love without external validation.
- When you do extraordinary things for other people, do you tell your friends and family about them? Why or why not?
- In what ways do you feel that doing good things for others benefits your life?
- When was the last time you did something good for someone who was in need, and why did you do it?
- If there were no one to acknowledge your good deeds and you didn’t believe in spiritual rewards, would you still help people? Why or why not?
Learn to Leap
It’s not always possible to know how to make your desires a reality, and things don’t always go the way you want them to. But remembering to have faith can help you feel less afraid of taking chances.
- What is one recent moment where something you expected to happen didn’t?
- Describe your reaction. What emotions did you experience? What actions did you take?
- Do you feel differently about that experience now than you did then? In what way?
- What is something you want to do now but are scared of? Why are you scared?
- What are some certainties that you can put your faith in to help you feel less afraid of taking this risk?
Give What You Have to Give
It’s not always easy to know how to help others, especially if we feel ill-equipped for the challenge. But we all have something to offer that can be useful to others.
- What are some ways in which you’ve helped others experiencing hardships recently?
- What are some other ways you might be of service to others who need help?
- What would you like to do to help others but believe you’re unable to do? Why do you believe this?
- Do you believe you have limitations that keep you from accomplishing your goals? What are they?
- How can you view those limitations in a different way and still move forward toward your goals?
Learn to Fill Your Bucket
It’s so easy to get caught up in our own lives, we forget that our lives affect the lives of others. But if we commit to becoming love, we will learn how to fill our buckets to become positive people for those around us.
- What would you say your two biggest character flaws are? What evidence supports this belief?
- What would you suspect the people close to you would say about what your character flaws are? What makes you believe this?
- What could you put in your bucket to help you become love in the world? Name two things.
- What would your behavior look like if your bucket was filled with those things? How would that change the way you interact with others?
Overcome Your Fears
There are things we want in life but are too afraid to ask for, and there are things we want to do but are too afraid to try. If we want to grow and reach our potential, we need to stop being afraid.
- What is one thing you want to do but believe you can’t? What fears keep you from trying?
- Are you someone who takes risks? If yes, what risks have you taken? If no, why not?
- What are you most afraid of in your life? How does that fear keep you from moving forward?
- What can you do to overcome that fear so you can become the person you want to be?
Are You Ready to Become Love?
The guidance provided in Everybody, Always is meant to help you find your spiritual path with God and learn to love yourself and others without fear. This journey will not be easy, but if you want to become love, it will likely be worth it.
- What is the most significant aspect of this book that has changed how you view yourself and others?
- How has this book made you feel about the way you’ve been loving others up to now?
- What changes will you make in your life to help you become love?
- What advice would you give someone else who wants to strengthen their faith and relationship with God?
Find Love for Difficult People
- We all have people in our lives who make us angry or who we simply don’t like for one reason or another. It’s too easy to turn away from what we don’t like, so how can we start to turn toward people instead?
- Think of someone who you’ve recently disagreed with or found frustrating or annoying. What are your thoughts concerning this person, and why do you feel this way?
- Do you feel this person is worthy of your love? Why or why not?
- What changes can you make to your perspective today to help you be able to give love to that person?
- What might giving love to this person look like in your life?
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Bob Goff's "Everybody Always" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full Everybody Always summary :
- How to live your life like Jesus lived his
- Why you need to open yourself up to God's love and give love to others
- How to deepen your faith by focusing on love rather than showing that you "agree" with God
