A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a Godshaped
life is a flourishing tree.—Proverbs 11:28

The rich can be sued for everything they have, but the
poor are free of such threats.—Proverbs 13:8

Better to be poor and honest than a rich person no one
can trust.—Proverbs 19:1

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten
by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by
burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe
from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it?
The place where your treasure is, is the place you will
most want to be, and end up being.”—Matthew 6:19-21

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He
said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own
and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be
heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”
The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing
he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy
heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and
not about to let go.
Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have
any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to
enter God’s kingdom?”—Mark 10:21-23

“Life is not defined by what you have, even when you
have a lot.”—Luke 12:15

“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new
house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so
you’ll know if you can complete it?”—Luke 14:28

Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be
relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll
never let you down, never walk off and leave you.”
—Hebrews 13:5

A final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in
lament. You’ll need buckets for the tears when the crash
comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine
clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your
gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you
were piling up wealth. What you’ve piled up is judgment.—
James 5:1-3

The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on
the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set
for eternity.—1 John 2:17

If you see some brother or sister in need and have the
means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder
and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears.
And you made it disappear.—1 John 3:17

A good woman is hard to find, and worth far more than
diamonds. Her husband trusts her without reserve, and
never has reason to regret it. Never spiteful, she treats
him generously all her life long. . .
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to
say, and she always says it kindly. She keeps an eye on
everyone in her household, and keeps them all busy
and productive. Her children respect and bless her. Her
husband joins in with words of praise.
—Proverbs 31:10-12,26-28

Jesus said, “Not everyone is mature enough to live a
married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace.
Marriage isn’t for everyone. Some, from birth seemingly,
never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked—
or accepted. And some decide not to get married for
kingdom reasons. But if you’re capable of growing into
the largeness of marriage, do it.”—Matthew 19:11-12

“A man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he
becomes one flesh with a woman—no longer two individuals,
but forming a new unity. Because God created
this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate
his art by cutting them apart.”—Mark 10:7-9

If you can’t manage your desires and emotions, you
should by all means go ahead and get married. The difficulties
of marriage are preferable by far to a sexually
tortured life as a single.—1 Corinthians 7:9

If you are a man with a wife who is not a believer but
who still wants to live with you, hold on to her. If you
are a woman with a husband who is not a believer but
he wants to live with you, hold on to him. The unbelieving
husband shares to an extent in the holiness of
his wife, and the unbelieving wife is likewise touched
by the holiness of her husband. Otherwise, your children
would be left out; as it is, they also are included in
the spiritual purposes of God.—1 Corinthians 7:12-14

A wife must stay with her husband as long as he lives.
If he dies, she is free to marry anyone she chooses. She
will, of course, want to marry a believer and have the
blessing of the Master.—1 Corinthians 7:39

Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How
can you make a partnership out of right and wrong?
That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends
with dark?—2 Corinthians 6:14

Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to
one another. Wives, understand and support your husbands in
ways that show your support for Christ. The husband
provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his
church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as
the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership,
wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives,
exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked
by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church
whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does
and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing
her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness.
And that is how husbands ought to love their wives.
They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re
already “one” in marriage.—Ephesians 5:21-28

Wives, understand and support your husbands by submitting
to them in ways that honor the Master.
Husbands, go all out in love for your wives. Don’t
take advantage of them.—Colossians 3:18-19

Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual
intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm
line against casual and illicit sex.—Hebrews 13:4

The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your
husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands
who, indifferent as they are to any words about God,
will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters
is not your outer appearance—the styling of your
hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but
your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle,
gracious kind that God delights in. . .
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands
to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As
women they lack some of your advantages. But in the
new life of God’s grace, you’re equals. Treat your wives,
then, as equals so your prayers don’t run aground.
—1 Peter 3:1-4,7

Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless
banter, white lies, and gossip.—Proverbs 4:24
Truth lasts; lies are here today, gone tomorrow.
—Proverbs 12:19

The person who tells lies gets caught; the person who
spreads rumors is ruined.—Proverbs 19:9

God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust
and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people
try to put a shroud over truth.—Romans 1:18

God keeps his word even when the whole world is
lying through its teeth.—Romans 3:4

Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all
connected to each other, after all. When you lie to
others, you end up lying to yourself.—Ephesians 4:25

But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for
good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty
talk. Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that
old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve
stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in
a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is
custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All
the old fashions are now obsolete.—Colossians 3:8-10

These liars have lied so well and for so long that they’ve
lost their capacity for truth.—1 Timothy 4:2

If we claim that we experience a shared life with him
and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re
obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living
what we claim.—1 John 1:6

Jesus said, “You know the next commandment pretty
well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But
don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying
out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even
quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think
nobody notices—they also corrupt.”—Matthew 5:27-28

“Using the legalities of divorce as a cover for lust is
adultery. Using the legalities of marriage as a cover for
lust is adultery.”—Luke 16:18

Since we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—
and I do mean everything—connected with
that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and
through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new
way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from
the inside and working itself into your conduct as God
accurately reproduces his character in you.
—Ephesians 4:22

Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill
slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying
greed.—Ephesians 5:3

Be content with obscurity, like Christ. And that means
killing off everything connected with the way of death:
sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you
feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever
attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things
and feelings instead of by God.—Colossians 3:4-5

Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble.
Going down that path, some lose their footing in
the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever
after.—1 Timothy 6:10

It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and
stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our
glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated
and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving
Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was
all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us
a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed
inside and out by the Holy Spirit.—Titus 3:3-5

Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to
adulthood, and becomes a real killer.—James 1:15

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels
come from? Do you think they just happen? Think
again. They come about because you want your own
way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for
what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You
want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your
hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would
you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking
for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children,
each wanting your own way. You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own
way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you
end up enemies of God and his way.—James 4:1-4

So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the
Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God
and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin.
Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.
—James 4:7-8

This world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves
cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of
your soul.—1 Peter 2:11

We were given absolutely terrific promises to pass on
to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God
after you turned your back on a world corrupted by
lust.—2 Peter 1:4

Practically everything that goes on in the world—
wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself,
wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with
the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and
all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—
but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
—1 John 2:16-17

Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime
rib served in hate.—Proverbs 15:17

Lots of people claim to be loyal and loving, but where
on earth can you find one?—Proverbs 20:6

Jesus said, “You’re familiar with the old written law,
‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate
your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to
love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you,
not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time,
respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are
working out of your true selves, your God-created
selves.”—Matthew 5:43-45

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and
prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the
first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside
it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two
commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the
Prophets hangs from them.”—Matthew 22:37-40

“Anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that
life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll
have it forever, real and eternal.”—John 12:25

“If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love
you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live
on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the
world is going to hate you.”—John 15:19

God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son
in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to
him.—Romans 5:8

Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a
wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no
way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger,
not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing,
not even the worst sins listed in
Scripture. . . .
Nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or
demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or
unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and
God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has
embraced us.—Romans 8:35-36,38-39

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run
for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be
good friends who love deeply.—Romans 12:9-10

No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m
bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares
more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it
doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head,
doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first,”
doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins
of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure
in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything,
trusts God always, always looks for the best, never
looks back, but keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.—1 Corinthians 13:3-8

With both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to
take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions
of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth!
Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!
Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
—Ephesians 3:17-19

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children
who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly
what God does is love you. Keep company with him
and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us.
His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t
love in order to get something from us but to give
everything of himself to us. Love like that. Ephesians 5:1-2

This is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that
you will not only love much but well. Learn to love
appropriately. You need to use your head and test your
feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not
sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and
exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of.—Philippians 1:9-10

The whole point of what we’re urging is simply love—
love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit
faith, a life open to God.—1 Timothy 1:5

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on
it. Love makes up for practically anything.—1 Peter 4:8

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s
goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the
Father.—1 John 2:15

Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. . . . This
is how we’ve come to understand and experience love:
Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to
live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be
out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in
need and have the means to do something about it but
turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to
God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s
practice real love.—1 John 3:14-18

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other
since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is
born of God and experiences a relationship with God.
The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first
thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t
know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed
his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so
we might live through him. . . .
If God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love
each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love
one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love
becomes complete in us—perfect love!—1 John 4:7-9,11-12

Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love
both.—1 John 4:21

Look right, look left—there’s not a soul who cares what
happens! I’m up against it, with no exit—bereft, left
alone.—Psalm 142:4

With the crowd dispersed, Jesus climbed the mountain
so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there
alone, late into the night.—Matthew 14:23

Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming
back.”—John 14:18

Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God
the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless
in their plight, and guard against corruption from
the godless world.—James 1:27

When you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and
sisters, even when they are strangers, you make the
faith visible.—3 John 5

Don’t put your life in the hands of experts who know
nothing of life, of salvation life.—Psalm 146:3

A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a Godshaped
life is a flourishing tree.—Proverbs 11:28

A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and
simple life is a full life.—Proverbs 13:7

An honest life shows respect for God; a degenerate life
is a slap in his face.—Proverbs 14:2

An undisciplined, self-willed life is puny; an obedient,
God-willed life is spacious.—Proverbs 15:32

It pays to take life seriously. Things work out when you
trust in God.—Proverbs 16:20

God is in charge of human life, watching and examining
us inside and out.—Proverbs 20:27

“Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, Godprovisions.
Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find
all your everyday human concerns will be met.”
—Matthew 6:33

Jesus said, “First things first. Your business is life, not
death. Follow me. Pursue life.”—Matthew 8:22

“Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting
them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God;
let him tell you what to do.”—Matthew 23:9

“Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not
merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing.
Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets
generosity.”—Luke 6:38

“Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted
room.”—Luke 11:36

“Life is not defined by what you have, even when you
have a lot.”—Luke 12:15

“Put your mind on your life with God. The way to
life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total
attention.”—Luke 13:24

“If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll
lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s
terms.”—Luke 17:33

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is
death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by
Jesus, our Master.—Romans 6:23

Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative
best you can with your own life.—Galatians 6:5

Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your
real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with
Christ in God. He is your life.—Colossians 3:3

Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness
of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of
that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.
—1 Peter 1:17-18

Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth
came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from
God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God
himself!—1 Peter 1:23

If we claim that we experience a shared life with him
and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re
obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living
what we claim.—1 John 1:6

If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t
keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life
doesn’t match his words.—1 John 2:4

Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to
live the same kind of life Jesus lived.—1 John 2:6

A lazy employee will give you nothing but trouble.
—Proverbs 10:26

The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are
oppressed by work.—Proverbs 12:24

A lazy life is an empty life.—Proverbs 12:27

“Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger
zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of
you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another
part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”
—Mark 14:38

Did you used to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no
more! Get an honest job so that you can help others
who can’t work.—Ephesians 4:28

Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job.
You’ve heard all this from us before, but a reminder
never hurts. We want you living in a way that will command
the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging
off your friends.—1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a
move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach
out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet.
Be patient with each person, attentive to individual
needs.—1 Thessalonians 5:14

Our orders—backed up by the Master, Jesus—are to
refuse to have anything to do with those among you
who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you.
Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest. We showed
you how to pull your weight when we were with you,
so get on with it. We didn’t sit around on our hands
expecting others to take care of us.—2 Thessalonians 3:6-7

Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived
with you? “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And now
we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-fornothings
are taking advantage of you. This must not be
tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—
no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own
keep.—2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course
with committed faith and then get everything promised
to them.—Hebrews 6:12

Don’t envy bad people; don’t even want to be around
them.—Proverbs 24:1

We’re blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who
can survive jealousy?—Proverbs 27:4

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of
the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it
as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but
work out its implications in every detail of our lives.
That means we will not compare ourselves with each
other as if one of us were better and another worse. We
have far more interesting things to do with our lives.
Each of us is an original.—Galatians 5:25-26

Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or
get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone
ends up at the others’ throats.—James 3:16

Wait for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope
always!—Psalm 131:3

I’m a hostage here for hope, not doom.—Acts 28:20

Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting
diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the
waiting.—Romans 8:24

By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this,
but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning
us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m
not turning back.—Philippians 3:13-14

The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack,
tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept
taut by hope.—Colossians 1:5

When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave
his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his
word. And because his word cannot change, the promise
is likewise unchangeable.
We who have run for our very lives to God have
every reason to grab the promised hope with both
hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual
lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very
presence of God.—Hebrews 6:17-19