Abigail displays the Godly characteristics of a peace maker as she diffuses a difficult situation between ill-tempered Nabal and an angry distracted David. We could learn a lot from Abigail in her display of wisdom, discernment, and humility.

A few short verses describes the courage of Benaiah. His lion chasing story is one that we can learn much from in our pursuit of a holy Christ filled life.

We don't like death, yet we cling to it and allow it to skew our perspective of the world and ourselves. If we can learn to give up death and look to how Jesus has conquered death, we will see that He never leaves us at the tomb. He meets us where we are at, bringing life, hope and a purpose filled future!

We strive for affirmation from the world and chase after it. We need to remember that God's affection and affirmation is not only enough but eternal!

If we are to love in ways that matter as followers of Christ, we must remember to give up any sense of superiority that we believe we have over others. Jesus was the only one that could claim a moral high ground yet He gave it up to meet people right where they were at!

Grudges keep us imprisoned and rob us of our joy. When we learn to forgive, we set ourselves free!

We are deceived into thinking that we actually have control over most things. Why then is it so hard to give up something that we never really have?

Sometimes our greatest disappointments and discouragements are because of our own expectations. What if we gave up our expectations and trusted God with the outcomes?

In this season of Lent, what if we focused on things that God would want us to give up rather than on the things we want to give up. We serve a God who can bring dry bones to life. Surely we can have hope in Him!

In order to truly love our neighbor as ourself, we must develop a spirit of generosity. A generous spirit is evidence of the work of Christ in us in all circumstances as Paul points out to us with the example of the Macedonian church.