If we are in Christ, the love of God has already been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Even so, for many of us, there is a great need to experience that inner outpouring in a baptism of love in which the Holy Spirit makes God's love real to us and through us. 

People will rarely give up their life for anyone or anything, though for a righteous man, someone might dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus said to beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. A little leaven leavens the whole lump, and then we have become something we never intended to be. On the other hand, the leaven of the Kingdom also can spread throughout us and redeem our brokenness for God's glory.

Diligence means seeing things through, and this quality is required of every servant of God and everyone who would succeed in life generally. Do I have it, or are things around me breaking down from neglect? God will teach us to be diligent just as He is!

Flipping the script just a bit, there are little things we cannot afford to MISS while we live that will actually hinder our ability to be fruitful. Enjoyment of the basic God-given pleasures of life is one of those things. With regard to these, we eat, drink, and are merry to the glory of the God who gave them.

A few little flies in the perfumer's oil, and the whole batch is ruined. That is what the Bible compares foolishness to in a person's heart. What is foolishness and how does just a little of it cause such disastrous ruin? Wisdom, praise God, is His powerful remedy.

We say we would like to serve God, but we can't. Our lives are weighed down with little gods that dominate our attentions and our affections. What does it really mean to fear God and serve Him only?

Fear can lead us to deeper faith or completely ruin us, all depending on where we run when we are in trouble. We have to choose to make the Lord our refuge BEFORE our crisis comes.