Read Philippians 2:3-7.

Jesus served His own servants. When we come to the point where we are able to do everything in an attitude of servanthood and humility, then we are really following Jesus. Recall how you failed at this recently and realize the grace of God, which is always for you and not against you (Romans 8:31).

Read Judges 21:25.

The individual can easily become king nowadays. Goodness and evil can become re-oriented around what is pleasant and useful to the individual - not to the family, the community or even the government. A major and serious modern struggle is between the family and the culture. Describe your particular struggles and how you overcome them.

Read Psalm 25:14.

The sign of a friend is not that he tells you secret sorrows, but secret joys. It's not so much God's big blessings that endear Him to us, but the tiny things, because they reveal His intimate knowledge of every detail of our individual lives. Describe some ways you actively employ this method of loving your family.

Read Matthew 25:21.

Our collective character - as a family, a church family or a community is formed by the small decisions made by all our members. When a food vendor offers free samples, do you eat your lunch there? When traveling on business and a hotel chain has given you a discount coupon, do you charge your employer the full amount? Do you believe these seemingly inconsequential decisions have an effect on life and its impact on all of us?

Read Mark 4:24.

Anthony Esolen has written: “Forgiveness arises from a consciousness of our own sin, and when practiced, allows us to laugh at the foibles of others and ourselves without excusing them. Tolerance, on the other hand, admits no fault and therefore accommodates no forgiveness, meting out fierce retribution for the most egregious errors. Our Culture Of Tolerance bases tolerance not upon God’s grace, but upon His absence. In this culture is a willful incapacity to bear the weaknesses and follies of others, except those we patronize by excusing their failings for political or ideological reasons of our own.” Contrast forgiveness with modern tolerance.

Read Luke 23:34.

There are more important things in heaven and earth than the particular public sin before us at the moment (whether that public sin is national or local or even neighborly or familial). How quick are you to condemn that sin, that violation of cultural freedom? Do you find that you are becoming more forgiving as you continue to walk with the Lord?