As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching. | But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. |
Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. | For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. |
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Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. | Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. |
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. | Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. |
Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. | Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. |
Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest. | What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar. |
Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. | Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. |
But be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. | Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. |
But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. | But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. |
Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” | Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” |
The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices. | To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. |
Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live!” | For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live.” |
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. | For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. |
You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh. | O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. |
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. | No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. |
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. | Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. |
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. | Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. |
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. | He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend. |
And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” | And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” |
Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. | That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. |
The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. | Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. |
You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. | You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. |
But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone. | But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord! |
No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. | For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. |
What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord. | And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. |