God wanted Israel, as He wants Christians, to learn to utterly abhor and detest anything that had the potential of coming between them and their God. The believer's enemies are typically internal rather than external, and they pose a powerful threat to spiritual health and progress.

Recalling what our lives were like before Jesus Christ entered them will help keep our daily problems in perspective.

Although their parents died in the wilderness for their stubbornness, Israel could profit from the older generation's failure by remembering that God had used adversity to train them.

Many people find spiritual growth possible only when times are hard; prosperity tends to promote complacency.

God not only allowed for joyful worship but also commanded it.

Common sense religion emphasizes the human contributions that are supposed to move the deity. Valid worship always begins with recognition of what God has already done.

God wants us to have love. We must be careful not to settle for sex.