section 1
We were created to be fruitful genesis 1:27-28 which carries more meaning than mere procreation, but the principle of spiritually, beneficial living ephesians 1:3 for all of God’s creation titus 3:8 romans 8:18-22 …that is living philippians 1:21-25 to work…to make the genuine effort… to live out spiritual truths galatians 6:1-2 i john 3:18 in practical ways james 2:14-17 i corinthians 15:46 matthew 7:12-14 with genuine care for the sake of other people’s souls i corinthians 10:24 proverbs 11:30 , and even the creation itself genesis 2:15 proverbs 12:10 . God’s creation of us for this fruitful, blessed labor glorifies God john 15:8 and even benefits our own souls proverbs 12:14 isaiah 3:10 proverbs 27:18 .
So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.
my notes:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One Who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
my notes:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
my notes:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.
When you produce much fruit, you are My true disciples. This brings great glory to My Father.
A person will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the work of a person’s hands will reward him.
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.
He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, And he who cares for his master will be honored.
my notes:
section 2
When we resist what we were created for isaiah 43:7 and either work carelessly joshua 1:7-8 or lazily hebrews 6:7-12 we inevitably become users and abusers of others and the creation ezekiel 34:2-5 proverbs 14:1 as the careless and lazy are self-deceived in entitlement psalm 73:7-9 i corinthians 4:7 micah 3:5 james 4:1-4 . If one does not fill one’s life with being busy FOR other souls, one will become a busybody AGAINST other souls ii thessalonians 3:11 i timothy 5:13 luke 11:23 . If we are not careful to labor to direct our own hearts proverbs 4:23 , life i corinthians 4:16-17 and teaching i timothy 4:16 , we end up laboring so others would become zealous towards "me" galatians 4:17 rather than laboring zealously for others romans 12:11 ii corinthians 4:5 ii corinthians 12:15 .
This path is filled with the hypocrisy of being busy to appear spiritual while only looking to feed off others matthew 6:1-4 ii corinthians 11:13-15 acts 20:29 and/or working hard to look busy isaiah 29:15 colossians 2:18 because one’s heart is not seeking to serve enthusiastically for the Lord deuteronomy 28:47 luke 9:62 . The one who is selfish and proud has a foot in each path thus living as a curse jeremiah 48:10 , while the one who walks with both feet in Truth and Love carries forth the grace, mercy and peace of Christ to everyone they come across ii john 3 joshua 1:7-9 .
everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made."
my notes:
Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law My servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.
my notes:
The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
This is what the LORD says: "You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 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. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.
"Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.
Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them.
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, Who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"
my notes:
Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,
Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the LORD’s work!
Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully...
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.
my notes:
section 3
When we labor for ourselves, we actually work in loneliness proverbs 18:1 and that kind of labor is always cursed as fruitless and exhausting psalm 127:1-2 habakkuk 2:13 haggai 1:4-6 . Selfish work literally exhausts for no true gain i corinthians 13:3 . Ironically, it is when we make practical james 2:15-16 efforts to lovingly lay our own lives down for others in Truth and Action i john 3:16-18 that we cultivate a field where true gain grows up and fruitfulness for the Lord and others thrives i timothy 6:6 proverbs 10:4 .
One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound wisdom.
Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for He grants sleep to those He loves.
Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
my notes:
"Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
my notes:
section 4
It’s not for hard work’s sake ecclesiastes 4:6 that we work hard, but rather it is for the love that is planted, grown and harvested within the field of hard work as we put the Truth to action i peter 1:22 i timothy 1:4-5 . Selfish ambition james 3:14-16 steals from contentment and satisfaction ecclesiastes 6:1-9 . So, it is a worldly deception to think we must always gain in practical ways from our practical work hebrews 13:5 . We are not to work hard for ourselves proverbs 23:4 , but rather labor strenuously to bless others colossians 1:28-29 .
So, rather than working to be done with work john 5:17 proverbs 24:30-34 or to gain for ourselves i timothy 6:5 , we should learn to embrace work to bless others galatians 6:9-10 , even if only by our example of godliness i thessalonians 4:11-12 ii thessalonians 3:8-9 acts 20:35 . For it is in the midst of work…embracing the work for others sake that we walk in Christ’s grace for our lives titus 2:11-14 proverbs 31:12-13 ii john 3 .
Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity. God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want, but then He doesn’t give them the chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth! This is meaningless—a sickening tragedy.
A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn’t even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead. His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name, and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man. He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else—well, what’s the use?
All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others? Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
my notes:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
my notes:
I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
my notes:
...nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ "
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
my notes:
Scripture quotations taken from one or more of the following versions as noted:
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