For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.

Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but rather God, who examines our hearts.

In singleness

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.

Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude,

Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.

Fearing

On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God—do this and you will live.

Then I said, “What you are doing isn’t right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God and not invite the reproach of our foreign enemies?

For many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him.

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity.

Therefore, dear friends, since we have such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, completing our sanctification in the fear of God.

General references

So Jacob said to him, “You know what I have done for you and your herds.

You know that I’ve worked hard for your father