If we just live within ourselves, or if our lives are determined by our own needs, our wants, or our desires, it’s a very small world ~ Eugene Peterson

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God - soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God ~ Psalm 43:5

The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? ~ Psalm 27:1

We are all parts of [Christ’s body, the church] and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others ~ Romans 12:4-5 | We need others; they need us

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." ~Matthew 20:28 | Before we serve anyone, Jesus serves us. Our service is never the price of grace, only our response to the sacrifice Jesus already made for us

There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free ~ Colossians 3:11 | In Christ, even the outsider is welcomed

Justice is a joy to the godly, but it terrifies evildoers ~ Proverbs 21:15

The Righteous One knows what is going on in the homes of the wicked; he will bring disaster on them ~ Proverbs 21:12

The guilty walk a crooked path; the innocent travel a straight road ~ Proverbs 21:8

Wealth created by a lying tongue is a vanishing mist and a deadly trap ~ Proverbs 21:6

People may be right in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their heart ~ Proverbs 21:2

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD ~ Job 1:21 | Job worships before any explanation comes. Giving and taking both rest in God's hands, so our praise is anchored in who God is, not in what we still hold

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand ~ 1 Peter 5:6

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting ~ Psalm 139:23–24

Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you ~ Psalms 25:4-5

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins ~ Psalm 51:1

Freely you have received; freely give ~ Matthew 10:8

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! ~ 1 John 3:1

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Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do ~ James 1:22,25