Here is a spiritual check-up for the new year: "Am I more like Jesus Christ than I was? Am I easier to live with? Am I more compassionate? Am I more generous? Am I angry about those things which offend the purity of God? Do I feel more the burden of those who are lost? Am I really thrilled by the prospect of the imminent coming of the Messiah? Is the kingdom of God truly the master passion of my life? Is my loyalty to all the things of Truth stronger than it was or weaker? Who are the people with whom I have the closest relationship? Remember, being static is not really the objective. The objective is growth."

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." {Phil. 3:12-14}

"Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,
Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea.
And there is no way of telling where the end is going to be.

Drop a pebble in the water: in a minute you forget,
But there's little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,
And those little waves a-flowing to a great big wave have grown;
You've disturbed a mighty river just by dropping in a stone.

Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute it is gone;
But there's a half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on.
They keep spreading, spreading from the center as they go,
And there is no way to stop them, once you've started them to flow.

Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute you forget;
But there's little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,
And perhaps in some sad heart a mighty wave of tears you've stirred,
And disturbed a life was happy ere you dropped that unkind word.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: just a flash and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,
Bearing hope and joy and comfort on each splashing, dashing wave
Till you wouldn't believe the volume of the one kind word you gave.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: in a minute you forget;
But there's gladness still a-swelling, and there's joy circling yet,
And you've rolled a wave of comfort whose sweet music can be heard
Over miles and miles of water just by dropping one kind word."

"We begin to live only when we begin to live for others."

"It is not great services that belong to thoughtfulness--only a word of cheer perhaps when one is discouraged a little, tenderness when one looks sad, a little timely help when one is overwrought."

"The Gospel reveals that Christ is set upon winning his victory in each individual heart, so that step by step a man's life becomes love-mastered and love-driven."

"Sustained activity in the Lord's business, effort and resources placed at his disposal gladly and trustingly, constitute that exercise which develops godlikeness--because in the world of God things which have a common purpose take on a common likeness. ... By this process the flesh will be made to serve instead of being served."

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily."

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." {Luke 6:37-38}

"First, give yourself to God. You may be sure He'll look after what is His."

"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." {Acts 20:35}

"Natural man is self-centered. This is death. Spiritual man sees himself as a small part of an immense divine, purposeful interworking unity. This is life."

"Share your life, and find the finest joy man can know. Do not be stingy with your heart. Get out of yourself into the lives of others, and new life will flow into you--share and share alike."

"He who grows in grace remembers that he is but dust, and he therefore does not expect his fellow Christians to be anything more. He overlooks ten thousand of their faults, because he knows his God overlooks twenty thousand in his own case. He does not expect perfection in the creature, and, therefore, he is not disappointed when he does not find it. When our virtues become more mature, we shall not be more tolerant of evil; but we shall be more tolerant of infirmity, more hopeful for the people of God, and certainly less arrogant in our criticisms."

"...no one who seeks to save himself will save himself. Only those who have clearly seen themselves and made themselves--harmonious, sympathetic, interwoven, joy-and-sorrow sharing parts of the Body of Christ, will be accepted as parts of that Body. ...the only way to salvation is through complete submission and submersion of self into the Body of Chrsit--ignoring, forgetting, neglecting, repudiating self in the service of the whole."

"I think I began learning long ago that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others."

"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." {II Corinthians 9:7}

"...we have made the transition from fleshly individuality to spiritual community. We have ceased to be ourselves to seek our own desires, to consider our own interests--and we have become absorbed wholly and wholeheartedly into the glory and fellowship and unity and joyful, satisfying service of the Body of Christ."

"Wisdom gives diligent attention to BEING who God wants her to be in her heart, to doing what God wants her to do, and doing the things that count eternally."

"Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life, for better or for worse. God puts us all in each other's lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others. The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or touched - they must be felt with the heart."

"Jesus was a man submitted wholly to the will of God and dedicated to the service of men for their salvation; a man who laid the measurement of heaven upon earthly things. He handled and enjoyed the things of everyday and looked through them to the spiritual."

"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."

"For all the Law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

"Who ever attains to this divine ideal of loving others as themselves? --of taking on all the joys and burdens of others, and sharing everything we hope with them without restraint? But this is the idea to which we must constantly strive to bring ourselves."

"Four steps that lead to peace:
*Be desirous of doing the will of another, rather than thine own.
*Choose always to have less, rather than more.
*Seek always the lowest place, and to be inferior to everyone.
*Wish always, and pray, that the will of God may be wholly fulfilled in thee."

"There are three kinds of givers--the flint, the sponge, and the honeycomb. To get anything out of a flint you must hammer it. And then you get only chips and sparks. To get water out of a sponge you must squeeze it, and the more you use pressure, the more you will get. But the honeycomb just overflows with its own sweetness. Which kind of giver are you?"

"Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into God's hand; and then, when we have given all to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about."

"Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our minds to the needs of others."

"Little services... mean self-denial, but the life in earnest counts self-denial as a part of its daily offering to the Master, and knowing that the Lord 'loveth a cheerful giver,' the giving is not done grudgingly or of necessity but with a glad spontaneous yielding up of one's own will and way."

December's quotes and verses will be on selfless giving.