1 Timothy 6

As for believers who are slaves, they should honor their masters in every way so that no one will insult God or what we teach.

Slaves who have believing masters should not respect them less, for they are brothers. Instead, they should serve their masters even better because the masters whom they serve are their brothers whom they should love. Teach and announce these things to the believers.

If anyone teaches false doctrines that do not agree with the reliable and true teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that person is very proud and does not understand anything. He wants to argue about unimportant matters and about certain words that result in jealousy, disagreements, unkind words, and evil motives.

His whole way of thinking has become completely wrong because he has rejected true things. As a result, he makes the mistake of thinking that by doing religious things he will get a lot of money.

Well, we truly do gain great benefit when we behave in a way that honors God and when we are content with what we have.

Indeed, we brought nothing into the world when we were born, and we cannot take anything out of it when we die.

So, if we have food and clothing, we should be satisfied with these.

But some people strongly desire to be rich. As a result, they do wrong things to get money and this will cause them to be caught as animals get caught in traps. They foolishly desire many things and so they get hurt. God will completely destroy them!

People do all sorts of evil things when they want to have a lot of money. Because some people have longed for money, they have stopped believing the truth that all of us believe and they have caused themselves to be very sorrowful.

But you, the man who serves God, keep completely away from loving money like this. Decide that you will do what is right and that you will honor God. Trust God, and love others. Endure difficult circumstances. Always be gentle with people.

Fight a good fight for that faith that saves you! Take hold of this great gift of eternal life and cling to it through everything you experience, no matter where you go. Remember that God chose you to live with him forever. These gifts of God are in you, and you made a good confession about them when you stood before many people.

God, who gives life to all things, knows everything that you do. Christ Jesus also knows everything that you do. He strongly declared what was true when he was on trial before Pontius Pilate.

So as you remember those things, I command you to hold on tightly in every way to what Christ has commanded us. Hold fast to those teachings in a way that our Lord Jesus Christ will not need to criticize you about what is wrong, and keep doing so until he comes again.

Remember that God will cause Jesus to come again at the proper time. God is awesome! He is the only Ruler! He rules over all other people who rule!

He is the only one who will never die, and he lives in heaven in light that is so bright that no one can approach it! He is the one whom no person has ever seen and whom no person is able to see! My desire is that all people will honor him and that he will rule powerfully forever! May it be so!

Tell the believers who are rich here in this present world that they should not be proud and that they should not trust in their many possessions, because they cannot be certain how long they will have them. Instead, they should trust in God. He is the one who abundantly gives us everything we have so that we may enjoy it.

Also, tell them to do good things. These are true wealth. Indeed, they should share with others very much of what they have.

If they do that, it will be as though they were storing up for themselves many things that God will give them. When they do this, they will have the life that is the real life.

Timothy, keep safe the faith that God has give to you. Stay away from those who have foolish discussions and arguments about what they falsely call "knowledge."

Some of them claimed they received that "knowledge," but that "knowledge" took them further away from their faith. May God be kind to all of you.