being selfish

³Let nothing be done by contention, nor in vain glory. Instead, in humility, let each of you esteem others to be better than himself.

¹⁴But if you hold a bitter zeal, and if there is contention in your hearts, then do not boast and do not be liars against the truth. ¹⁵For this is not wisdom, descending from above, but rather it is earthly, beastly, and diabolical. ¹⁶For wherever envy and contention is, there too is inconstancy and every depraved work.

¹And know this: that in the last days perilous times will press near. ²Men will be lovers of themselves, greedy, self-exalting, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, ³without affection, without peace, false accusers, unchaste, cruel, without kindness, ⁴traitorous, reckless, self-important, loving pleasure more than God, ⁵even having the appearance of piety while rejecting its virtue. And so, avoid them.

³Let nothing be done by contention, nor in vain glory. Instead, in humility, let each of you esteem others to be better than himself. ⁴Let each of you not consider anything to be your own, but rather to belong to others.

⁷each one giving, just as he has determined in his heart, neither out of sadness, nor out of obligation. For God loves a cheerful giver.

²⁹Let no evil words proceed from your mouth, but only what is good, toward the edification of faith, so as to bestow grace upon those who listen. ³⁰And do not be willing to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed, unto the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and outcry and blasphemy be taken away from you, along with all malice. ³²And be kind and merciful to one another, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you in Christ.

¹⁴My brothers, what benefit is there if someone claims to have faith, but he does not have works? How would faith be able to save him? ¹⁵So if a brother or sister is naked and daily in need of food, ¹⁶and if anyone of you were to say to them: “Go in peace, keep warm and nourished,” and yet not give them the things that are necessary for the body, of what benefit is this? ¹⁷Thus even faith, if it does not have works, is dead, in and of itself.

³⁶Bend my heart with your testimonies, and not with avarice.

¹³No one has a greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.

¹³No servant is able to serve two lords. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cling to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

¹Whoever has a will to withdraw from a friend, seeks occasions; he shall be reproached at all times.

¹If I were to speak in the language of men, or of Angels, yet not have charity, I would be like a clanging bell or a crashing cymbal. ²And if I have prophecy, and learn every mystery, and obtain all knowledge, and possess all faith, so that I could move mountains, yet not have charity, then I am nothing. ³And if I distribute all my goods in order to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned, yet not have charity, it offers me nothing. ⁴Charity is patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated. ⁵Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil. ⁶Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth.

²⁸even as the Son of man has not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a redemption for many.”

⁶For she who is living in pleasures is dead, while living.

¹⁶So then, let your light shine in the sight of men, so that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father, who is in heaven.