"Love is not spelled T-H-I-N-G-S. Love is spelled T-I-M-E." I don't know when or where I first heard that, or even who said it, but that simple little statement has certainly stuck in my mind over the years. I understand it to say that true love isn't shown by the stuff you give, but by the time spent in giving yourself.
"What profit is it that we...have walked as mourners Before the LORD of hosts?" Malachi 3:14
What profit is there in walking mournfully? None. The only thing that truly profits a man is joy. You see, the advantage to sorrow's fire is not found in the things that are consumed, but rather in those things that it cannot consume. So, the best and most beneficial use of adversity is for it to reveal the one thing that it cannot take way - my joy.
"For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens." Hebrews 7:26
I don't think that the writer of Hebrews intends that we understand these three words - holy, harmless, undefiled - to simply be different ways of saying the same thing. I believe that what we have here are the three different stages in the development of personal purity in the life of the Christian.
"Esau...found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." Heb.12:16-17
The writer of Hebrews isn't saying what you might think at first glance. He's not saying that Esau found no repentance. He says that Esau found no place of repentance. His repentance was evident, and as a result so was his forgiveness. What this verse teaches us is that his repentance did not restore the position he lost in his community.