The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things,

He began to think to himself, 'I don't have a place to keep all my crops. What can I do?

Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself !'

And Jesus concluded, "This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God's sight."

But they all began, one after another, to make excuses. The first one told the servant, 'I have bought a field and must go and look at it; please accept my apologies.'

Another one said, 'I have just gotten married, and for that reason I cannot come.'

"Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you

Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart.

Demas fell in love with this present world and has deserted me, going off to Thessalonica. Crescens went to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

Your money can be gone in a flash, as if it had grown wings and flown away like an eagle.

Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too---and a miserable way to live.

If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.

Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.

and then lose it all in some bad deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children.

It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get?

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.

Command those who are rich in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain thing as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment.

From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God's will and not by human desires.

You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols.

Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father.

The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live forever.

He dug the soil and cleared it of stones; he planted the finest vines. He built a tower to guard them, dug a pit for treading the grapes. He waited for the grapes to ripen, but every grape was sour.

Is there anything I failed to do for it? Then why did it produce sour grapes and not the good grapes I expected?

The ax is ready to cut down the trees at the roots; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.

He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.

God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth nothing; it is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.

These are the qualities you need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With their shameless carousing they are like dirty spots in your fellowship meals. They take care only of themselves. They are like clouds carried along by the wind, but bringing no rain. They are like trees that bear no fruit, even in autumn, trees that have been pulled up by the roots and are completely dead.