At work with God – Day 2

₆Lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live. ₇They have no leader, chief, or ruler, ₈but they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for winter. ₉How long is the lazy man going to lie in bed? When is he ever going to get up?

₁₄Lazy people turn over in bed. They get no farther than a door swinging on its hinges.

₁₅Some people are too lazy to put food in their own mouths.

₁₄Our people must learn to spend their time doing good, in order to provide for real needs; they should not live useless lives.

₆Some of them go into people's houses and gain control over weak women who are burdened by the guilt of their sins and driven by all kinds of desires, ₇women who are always trying to learn but who can never come to know the truth. ₈As Jannes and Jambres were opposed to Moses, so also these people are opposed to the truth — people whose minds do not function and who are failures in the faith. ₉But they will not get very far, because everyone will see how stupid they are. That is just what happened to Jannes and Jambres.

₁₀But you have followed my teaching, my conduct, and my purpose in life; you have observed my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance, ₁₁my persecutions, and my sufferings. You know all that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the terrible persecutions I endured! But the Lord rescued me from them all. ₁₂Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted; ₁₃and evil persons and impostors will keep on going from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.

₈But if anyone does not take care of his relatives, especially the members of his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.