Thursday, January 15

7Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

8Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

11Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

12There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

13Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit';

14whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'

16But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!

2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.

3Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

4Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

5You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

6You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

7Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

17Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?'

18So Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

19You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' '

20And he answered and said to Him, 'Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.'

21Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.'

22But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!'

24And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, 'Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!

25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'

26And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, 'Who then can be saved?'

27But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.'