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Tests in Life

⁴ When a sieve is shaken, the refuse appears;
   so do a person’s faults when he speaks.
⁵ The kiln tests the potter’s vessels;
   so the test of a person is in his conversation.
⁶ Its fruit discloses the cultivation of a tree;
   so a person’s speech discloses the cultivation of his mind.
⁷ Do not praise anyone before he speaks,
   for this is the way people are tested.

Psalm 92

Thanksgiving for Vindication

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day.
¹ It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
   to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
² to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
   and your faithfulness by night,
³ to the music of the lute and the harp,
   to the melody of the lyre.
⁴ For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
   at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

¹² The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
   and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ They are planted in the house of the Lord;
   they flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ In old age they still produce fruit;
   they are always green and full of sap,
¹⁵ showing that the Lord is upright;
   he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

⁵¹Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,^* but we will all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
⁵⁵ ‘Where, O death, is your victory?
   Where, O death, is your sting?’
⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved,^* be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

39 He also told them a parable: ‘Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. ⁴¹Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s^* eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴²Or how can you say to your neighbour,^* “Friend,^* let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s^* eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

43 ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; ⁴⁴for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

The Two Foundations

46 ‘Why do you call me “Lord, Lord”, and do not do what I tell you? ⁴⁷I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. ⁴⁸That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.^{* 49}But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.’