As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching. | But speak thou the things which become 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 ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. |
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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. | Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. |
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. | Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. |
Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. | Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. |
Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest. | The desire of a man is his kindness: 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, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even 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 in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath 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 the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful 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.” | Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. |
The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices. | To do justice and judgment 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 saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall 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 flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. |
You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh. | Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. |
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. | There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear 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 also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. |
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. | For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest 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 that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. |
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, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. |
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 will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach 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. | Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. |
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 will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of 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 what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but 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 tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. |