Study Desk

It is the same with our tongue. It is a small part of the body, but it can boast about doing great things. A big forest fire can be started with only a little flame.

But no one can control the tongue. It is wild and evil, full of deadly poison.

We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people who were created in God's likeness.

But the wisdom that comes from God is like this: First, it is pure. It is also peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help people who have trouble and to do good for others. This wisdom is always fair and honest.

You want things, but you don't get them. So you kill and are jealous of others. But you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You don't get what you want because you don't ask God.

But the kindness God shows is greater. As the Scripture says, "God is against the proud, but he is kind to the humble."

You don't know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a fog. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away.

But now you are proud and boast about yourself. All such boasting is wrong.

People worked in your fields, but you did not pay them. They are crying out against you. They harvested your crops. Now the Lord All-Powerful has heard their cries.

You showed no mercy to good people. They were not against you, but you killed them.

Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke for the Lord. They suffered many bad things, but they were patient.

These troubles test your faith and prove that it is pure. And such faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold will ruin. When your faith is proven to be pure, the result will be praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ comes.

You have not seen Christ, but still you love him. You can't see him now, but you believe in him. You are filled with a wonderful and heavenly joy that cannot be explained.

In the past you did not have the understanding you have now, so you did the evil things you wanted to do. But now you are children of God, so you should obey him and not live the way you did before.

You pray to God and call him Father, but he will judge everyone the same way—by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God.

You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver.

Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you.

But the word of the Lord lasts forever." And that word is the Good News that was told to you.

The Lord Jesus is the living stone. The people of the world decided that they did not want this stone. But he is the one God chose as one of great value. So come to him.

So, that stone brings honor for you who believe. But for those who don't believe he is "the stone that the builders refused to accept, which became the most important stone."