A Warning against Pride 1 UST I will tell you why you are fighting among yourselves and quarreling with each other. It is because each of you inwardly desires to do evil things. Those desires lead you to fight{ in order to be able to do those things}. BSB BSB: What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
2 UST You desire to have things, but you do not get{ them}. This makes you bitterly resent the people who do have them. But you{ still} do not get{ what you want}, so you quarrel and fight{ with others}. If you pray{ to God} instead{ for the things you desire}, then God will give you{ what you truly need}. BSB BSB: You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.
3 UST But even when you do ask God for things, he does not give them to you, because you are asking with bad motives. You are asking for things just so that you can use them to enjoy yourselves in wrong ways. BSB BSB: And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
4 UST You are being disloyal to God{ by not obeying him}! You must realize that those who behave as evil people do are hostile to God. So if that is how you decide to live, then you will be choosing to be hostile to God. BSB BSB: You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
5 UST You must realize that God has purposely told us about this in the Scriptures. There he teaches us that the Spirit he placed in us yearns for us to live our lives in ways that please him. BSB BSB: Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?
6 UST If we are living in ways that do not please God, he is very kind to us.{ He will help us live differently if we humbly admit that we have been doing wrong.} That is why this teaching is in the Bible:“God does not help those who are proud, but he does help those who are humble.” BSB BSB: But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Drawing Near to God 7 UST So choose humbly to obey God. Firmly determine not to give in to the devil’ s temptations. This will make the devil give up on trying to tempt you. BSB BSB: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 UST Be honest and open with God. If you do, he will welcome you into his presence. You who are sinners, turn away from doing what is wrong and do only what is right. You who cannot decide whether you will commit yourselves to God, stop thinking wrong thoughts and think only right thoughts. BSB BSB: Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 UST Show sorrow and be sad and weep{ because of the wrong things that you have done}. You have been enjoying yourselves, but you should be serious{ and realize how much you need to change}. BSB BSB: Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
10 UST Humbly show the Lord how sorry you are for your sins. If you do that, he will honor you. BSB BSB: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
11 UST My fellow believers, stop accusing one another of doing wrong. Anyone who accuses and condemns a fellow believer is really accusing and condemning God’ s commandment{ that we should love one another}. But if you speak against that commandment, you are not obeying it. Instead, you are acting like a judge who condemns it. BSB BSB: Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.
12 UST The only one who can judge people{ according to the law} is the one who gave the law. That is God, who is able not just to condemn people{ for breaking the law} but also to pardon them{ even though they have broken the law}. You certainly are not entitled to take God’ s place and judge others. BSB BSB: There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Do Not Boast about Tomorrow (Proverbs 27:1)
14 UST You should not talk like that, because you do not know what will happen tomorrow. In fact, you do not even know how long you will live! After all, your life is short, like a mist that is visible briefly but then vanishes. BSB BSB: You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
15 UST Instead{ of what you are saying,} you should say,“If the Lord is willing, we will still be alive and we will be able to do one thing or another.” BSB BSB: Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”
16 UST But what you are doing is bragging about all the things you plan to do. That kind of bragging is sinful. BSB BSB: As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.
17 UST So if anyone does not do something even though he knows it is the right thing that he should do, he has committed a sin. BSB BSB: Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.