tough decisions

⁵Have confidence in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend upon your own prudence. ⁶In all your ways, consider him, and he himself will direct your steps.

³⁰I am not able to do anything of myself. As I hear, so do I judge. And my judgment is just. For I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

¹It is for man to prepare the soul, and for the Lord to govern the tongue. ²All the ways of a man are open to his eyes; the Lord is the one who weighs spirits. ³Open your works to the Lord, and your intentions will be set in order. ⁴The Lord has wrought all things because of himself. Likewise the impious is for the evil day. ⁵All the arrogant are an abomination to the Lord. Even if hand will be joined to hand, he is not innocent. The beginning of a good way is to do justice. And this is more acceptable with God than to immolate sacrifices. ⁶By mercy and truth, iniquity is redeemed. And by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil.

¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.

¹³Hold to the kind of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

⁸But, before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves. For love covers a multitude of sins.

¹⁶For this reason, we are not insufficient. But it is as though our outer man is corrupted, while our inner man is renewed from day to day.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. And everyone who loves God, who provides that birth, also loves him who has been born of God. ²In this way, we know that we love those born of God: when we love God and do his commandments. ³For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not heavy. ⁴For all that is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God! ⁶This is the One who came by water and blood: Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies that the Christ is the Truth.

¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to have compassion on our infirmities, but rather one who was tempted in all things, just as we are, yet without sin.

⁷Do not choose to wander astray. God is not to be ridiculed. ⁸For whatever a man will have sown, that also shall he reap. For whoever sows in his flesh, from the flesh he shall also reap corruption. But whoever sows in the Spirit, from the Spirit he shall reap eternal life. ⁹And so, let us not be deficient in doing good. For in due time, we shall reap without fail.

³O Lord my God, I have cried out to you, and you have healed me.

⁹The Lord is not delaying his promise, as some imagine, but he does act patiently for your sake, not wanting anyone to perish, but wanting all to be turned back to penance.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, we should also walk by the Spirit.