have done.​—Hebrews 4:16; James 5:16; see Isaiah 38:1-16.

20. Why is God’s love for us no excuse for self-importance or egotism on our part?

²⁰ No balanced Christian would take such evidence of God’s love and esteem as an excuse to view himself as more important than he really is. Paul wrote: “Through the undeserved kindness given to me I tell everyone there among you not to think more of himself than it is necessary to think; but to think so as to have a sound mind, each one as God has distributed to him a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) So while we bask in the warmth of our heavenly Father’s love, let us be sound in mind and remember that God’s loving-kindness is undeserved.​—Compare Luke 17:10.

21. What satanic lie must we continually resist, and what divine truth must we ever ponder?

²¹ Let each of us do everything in our power to resist all the ideas that Satan promotes in this dying old world. That includes rejecting the thought that we are worthless or unloved. If life in this system has taught you to see yourself as an obstacle too daunting even for God’s immense love to surmount, or your good works as too insignificant even for his all-seeing eyes to notice, or your sins as too vast even for the death of his precious Son to cover, you have been taught a lie. Reject such lies with all the repugnance that they deserve! Let us keep ever in mind the inspired words of the apostle Paul at Romans 8:38, 39: “I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Incite to Love And Fine Works​—How?

“Let us consider one another to incite to love and fine works, . . . encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day drawing near.”​—HEBREWS 10:24, 25.

1, 2. (a) Why was it important that the early Christians find comfort and encouragement in their meeting together? (b) What counsel of Paul’s addressed the need to meet together?

THEY met in secret, huddled together behind locked doors. Outside, danger lurked everywhere. Their Leader, Jesus, had just been publicly executed, and he had warned his followers that they would be treated no better than he had been. (John 15:20; 20:19) But as they spoke in hushed tones of their beloved Jesus, being together must have at least made them feel safer.

² As the years passed, Christians faced all manner of trials and persecution. Like those first disciples, they drew comfort and encouragement from meeting together. Thus,