Message Bible Daily Reading - Old/New Testament (MSG)

Old/New Testament Reading for Wednesday September 12, 2018 (MSG)

Posted: 11 Sep 2018 10:00 PM PDT

Proverbs 13-15

Walk with the Wise

13 Intelligent children listen to their parents;
foolish children do their own thing.

²The good acquire a taste for helpful conversation;
bullies push and shove their way through life.

³Careful words make for a careful life;
careless talk may ruin everything.

⁴Indolence wants it all and gets nothing;
the energetic have something to show for their lives.

⁵A good person hates false talk;
a bad person wallows in gibberish.

⁶A God-loyal life keeps you on track;
sin dumps the wicked in the ditch.

⁷A pretentious, showy life is an empty life;
a plain and simple life is a full life.

⁸The rich can be sued for everything they have,
but the poor are free of such threats.

⁹The lives of good people are brightly lit streets;
the lives of the wicked are dark alleys.

¹⁰Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord,
but wise men and women listen to each other's counsel.

¹¹Easy come, easy go,
but steady diligence pays off.

¹²Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick,
but a sudden good break can turn life around.

¹³Ignore the Word and suffer;
honor God's commands and grow rich.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
so, no more drinking from death-tainted wells!

¹⁵Sound thinking makes for gracious living,
but liars walk a rough road.

¹⁶A commonsense person lives good sense;
fools litter the country with silliness.

¹⁷Irresponsible talk makes a real mess of things,
but a reliable reporter is a healing presence.

¹⁸Refuse discipline and end up homeless;
embrace correction and live an honored life.

¹⁹Souls who follow their hearts thrive;
fools bent on evil despise matters of soul.

²⁰Become wise by walking with the wise;
hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.

²¹Disaster entraps sinners,
but God-loyal people get a good life.

²²A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren;
ill-gotten wealth ends up with good people.

²³Banks foreclose on the farms of the poor,
or else the poor lose their shirts to crooked lawyers.

²⁴A refusal to correct is a refusal to love;
love your children by disciplining them.

²⁵An appetite for good brings much satisfaction,
but the belly of the wicked always wants more.

A Way That Leads to Hell

14 Lady Wisdom builds a lovely home;
Sir Fool comes along and tears it down brick by brick.

²An honest life shows respect for God;
a degenerate life is a slap in his face.

³Frivolous talk provokes a derisive smile;
wise speech evokes nothing but respect.

⁴No cattle, no crops;
a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow.

⁵A true witness never lies;
a false witness makes a business of it.

⁶Cynics look high and low for wisdom—and never find it;
the open-minded find it right on their doorstep!

⁷Escape quickly from the company of fools;
they're a waste of your time, a waste of your words.

⁸The wisdom of the wise keeps life on track;
the foolishness of fools lands them in the ditch.

⁹The stupid ridicule right and wrong,
but a moral life is a favored life.

¹⁰The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends
will be an outsider at their celebrations.

¹¹Lives of careless wrongdoing are tumbledown shacks;
holy living builds soaring cathedrals.

^12-13There's a way of life that looks harmless enough;
look again—it leads straight to hell.
Sure, those people appear to be having a good time,
but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.

Sift and Weigh Every Word

¹⁴A mean person gets paid back in meanness,
a gracious person in grace.

¹⁵The gullible believe anything they're told;
the prudent sift and weigh every word.

¹⁶The wise watch their steps and avoid evil;
fools are headstrong and reckless.

¹⁷The hotheaded do things they'll later regret;
the coldhearted get the cold shoulder.

¹⁸Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion;
wise realists plant their feet on the ground.

¹⁹Eventually, evil will pay tribute to good;
the wicked will respect God-loyal people.

²⁰An unlucky loser is shunned by all,
but everyone loves a winner.

²¹It's criminal to ignore a neighbor in need,
but compassion for the poor—what a blessing!

²²Isn't it obvious that conspirators lose out,
while the thoughtful win love and trust?

²³Hard work always pays off;
mere talk puts no bread on the table.

²⁴The wise accumulate wisdom;
fools get stupider by the day.

²⁵Souls are saved by truthful witness
and betrayed by the spread of lies.

²⁶The Fear-of-God builds up confidence,
and makes a world safe for your children.

²⁷The Fear-of-God is a spring of living water
so you won't go off drinking from poisoned wells.

²⁸The mark of a good leader is loyal followers;
leadership is nothing without a following.

²⁹Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding;
a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity.

³⁰A sound mind makes for a robust body,
but runaway emotions corrode the bones.

³¹You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless;
when you're kind to the poor, you honor God.

³²The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold;
the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.

³³Lady Wisdom is at home in an understanding heart—
fools never even get to say hello.

³⁴God-devotion makes a country strong;
God-avoidance leaves people weak.

³⁵Diligent work gets a warm commendation;
shiftless work earns an angry rebuke.

God Doesn't Miss a Thing

15 A gentle response defuses anger,
but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire.

²Knowledge flows like spring water from the wise;
fools are leaky faucets, dripping nonsense.

³God doesn't miss a thing—
he's alert to good and evil alike.

⁴Kind words heal and help;
cutting words wound and maim.

⁵Moral dropouts won't listen to their elders;
welcoming correction is a mark of good sense.

⁶The lives of God-loyal people flourish;
a misspent life is soon bankrupt.

⁷Perceptive words spread knowledge;
fools are hollow—there's nothing to them.

⁸God can't stand pious poses,
but he delights in genuine prayers.

⁹A life frittered away disgusts God;
he loves those who run straight for the finish line.

¹⁰It's a school of hard knocks for those who leave God's path,
a dead-end street for those who hate God's rules.

¹¹Even hell holds no secrets from God—
do you think he can't read human hearts?

Life Ascends to the Heights

¹²Know-it-alls don't like being told what to do;
they avoid the company of wise men and women.

¹³A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face;
a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day.

¹⁴An intelligent person is always eager to take in more truth;
fools feed on fast-food fads and fancies.

¹⁵A miserable heart means a miserable life;
a cheerful heart fills the day with song.

¹⁶A simple life in the Fear-of-God
is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.

¹⁷Better a bread crust shared in love
than a slab of prime rib served in hate.

¹⁸Hot tempers start fights;
a calm, cool spirit keeps the peace.

¹⁹The path of lazy people is overgrown with briers;
the diligent walk down a smooth road.

²⁰Intelligent children make their parents proud;
lazy students embarrass their parents.

²¹The empty-headed treat life as a plaything;
the perceptive grasp its meaning and make a go of it.

²²Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail;
take good counsel and watch them succeed.

²³Congenial conversation—what a pleasure!
The right word at the right time—beautiful!

²⁴Life ascends to the heights for the thoughtful—
it's a clean about-face from descent into hell.

²⁵God smashes the pretensions of the arrogant;
he stands with those who have no standing.

²⁶God can't stand evil scheming,
but he puts words of grace and beauty on display.

²⁷A greedy and grasping person destroys community;
those who refuse to exploit live and let live.

²⁸Prayerful answers come from God-loyal people;
the wicked are sewers of abuse.

²⁹God keeps his distance from the wicked;
he closely attends to the prayers of God-loyal people.

³⁰A twinkle in the eye means joy in the heart,
and good news makes you feel fit as a fiddle.

³¹Listen to good advice if you want to live well,
an honored guest among wise men and women.

³²An undisciplined, self-willed life is puny;
an obedient, God-willed life is spacious.

³³Fear-of-God is a school in skilled living—
first you learn humility, then you experience glory.

The Message (MSG)

2 Corinthians 5

5 ^1-5For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.

^6-8That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.

^9-10But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that's what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.

^11-14That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It's no light thing to know that we'll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That's why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. We're not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we're on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are. If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.

A New Life

^14-15Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

^16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

²¹How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

The Message (MSG)

Message Bible Daily

Wednesday, September 12, 2018