For the heathen are greedily pursuing all such things; and surely your heavenly Father well knows that you need them all. But as your first duty keep on looking for His standard of doing right, and for His will, and then all these things will be yours besides.

But narrow is the gate and hard is the road that leads to life, and few are they that find it.

and do not take a bag for your journey, nor two shirts, nor any shoes, nor a staff, for the workman deserves his support.

the blind are seeing and the crippled are walking, the lepers are being healed and the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised and the poor are having the good news preached to them.

"For it is just like a man who was going on a long journey from his homeland, who called to him his slaves and turned his property over to them.

Although it was now evening, a rich man named Joseph, from Arimathea, who was himself a disciple of Jesus,

Is He not the carpenter, Mary's son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And do not His sisters live here among us?" And so they found a cause for stumbling over him.

Then Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing. Go, sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come back and follow me."

who will not receive now in this life a hundred times as much in houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, but along with them persecution, and in the world to come eternal life.

Then He fixed His eyes upon His disciples, and began to speak. "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours!

and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many other women, who continued to contribute to their needs out of their personal means.

Do not carry a purse, a bag, or shoes, and do not stop to say 'Good morning' to anybody on the road.

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is to be demanded of you. Then who will have all that you have prepared?' So it is with the man who continues to pile up possessions for himself, and is not rich in God."

So I tell you, make friends by the right use of your money, which so easily tends to wrongdoing, so that when it fails, your friends may welcome you to the eternal dwellings.

"Once there was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and live in dazzling luxury every day.

Here there was a man named Zaccheus, who was tax-commissioner of the district, and he was a rich man too.

Then Zaccheus got up and said to the Lord, "Listen, Lord! I now give to the poor half of my property, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay him back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this home, for he too is a real descendant of Abraham.

So He said: "Once upon a time a man of noble birth went off to a distant country to get for himself a kingdom and then return.

Then He said to them, "But now the man who has a purse must take it, and a bag too. And the man who does not have a sword must sell his coat and buy one.

For His disciples had gone into the town to buy some food.

But no one else at the table knew what He meant by this,

And all the believers lived together and held all they had as common goods to be shared by one another. And so they continued to sell their property and goods and to distribute the money to all, as anyone had special need.

For none of them was in want, for as many of them as were owners of farms or houses proceeded to sell them, one by one, and continued to bring the money received for the things sold and to put it at the disposal of the apostles; then distribution was continuously made to everyone in proportion to his need. read more. Now Joseph, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, who by the apostles was named Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement, sold the farm he had and brought the money and put it at the disposal of the apostles.

As long as it was unsold, was it not yours, and when it was sold, was not the money at your disposal? How could you have the heart to do such a thing! You did not lie to men but to God!"

He called together his workmen, and others engaged in similar trades, and said to them: "Men, you well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours,

Physical training, indeed, is of some service, but religion is of service for everything, for it contains a promise for the present life as well as the future.

But men who keep planning to get rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish, hurtful desires which plunge people into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some men in reaching after riches have wandered from the faith and pierced their hearts with many a pang.

Continue charging the rich of this world to stop being haughty and not to fix their hope on a thing so uncertain as riches, but on God who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment; charge them to continue doing good and being rich in good deeds, open-handed and generous hearted, read more. in this way amassing for themselves the riches that forever endure in the life to come, so that at last they may grasp the life that is life indeed.

My brothers, stop trying to maintain your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious presence of God on earth, along with acts of partiality to certain ones. For if a man with a gold ring, dressed in fine clothes, comes to your meeting, and at the same time a poor man clad in dirty clothes, read more. and you pay special attention to the man who wears the fine clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in this fine place," and say to the poor man, "Stand up, or sit there on the floor at my feet," do you not make improper distinctions among yourselves and prove to be critics with evil motives? Listen, my dearly loved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you, in contrast, have humiliated the poor man. Are not the rich men those who oppress you and drag you to court? Are not they the ones who scoff at the beautiful name you bear? But if you really observe the law of the King in accordance with the Scripture, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right;

Come now, you rich people, weep aloud and howl over the miseries that are sure to overtake you. Your wealth has rotted, your clothes are moth-eaten, read more. your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will testify against you and devour your flesh like fire. You have stored up these things for the last days. See, the wages that you have kept back from the laborers who reaped your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. Here on earth you have lived in luxury and self-indulgence; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.

Because you say, 'I am rich, I have already become rich, I need nothing,' and you do not know that you are the very one that is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked;