What does Aslan International Ministry say about
Celebrating Birthdays
Psalm 118:24 ESV / 240 helpful votes
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Romans 14:5-6 ESV / 180 helpful votes
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Job 1:4 ESV / 147 helpful votes
His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
Genesis 40:20-22 ESV / 123 helpful votes
On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Colossians 2:16 ESV / 113 helpful votes
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Ecclesiastes 7:1 ESV / 110 helpful votes
A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.
Ecclesiastes 7:8 ESV / 101 helpful votes
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Matthew 2:11 ESV / 100 helpful votes
And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Matthew 14:6 ESV / 99 helpful votes
But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,
Romans 14:5 ESV / 87 helpful votes
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Proverbs 9:11 ESV / 82 helpful votes
For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
Mark 6:21 ESV / 80 helpful votes
But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.
Genesis 40:20 ESV / 79 helpful votes
On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
Leviticus 18:3 ESV / 74 helpful votes
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ESV / 65 helpful votes
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, …
Psalm 90:12 ESV / 60 helpful votes
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Matthew 14:6-12 ESV / 59 helpful votes
But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, …
Job 1:1-22 ESV / 56 helpful votes
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. …
Numbers 6:24-26 ESV / 56 helpful votes
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Philippians 1:3 ESV / 55 helpful votes
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV / 55 helpful votes
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Jeremiah 20:14 ESV / 51 helpful votes
Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!
Luke 2:8-20 ESV / 50 helpful votes
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” …
Psalm 20:4 ESV / 49 helpful votes
May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!
3 John 1:2 ESV / 48 helpful votes
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
Isaiah 46:4 ESV / 43 helpful votes
Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
Psalm 139:16 ESV / 38 helpful votes
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Ecclesiastes 11:8 ESV / 36 helpful votes
So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
Psalm 65:11 ESV / 35 helpful votes
You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
Luke 1:14 ESV / 32 helpful votes
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
1 Timothy 4:12 ESV / 30 helpful votes
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Psalm 63:1-11 ESV / 30 helpful votes
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, …
2 Corinthians 9:15 ESV / 29 helpful votes
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
Psalm 16:11 ESV / 27 helpful votes
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
1 Peter 2:21 ESV / 26 helpful votes
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
James 1:17 ESV / 26 helpful votes
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
John 16:21 ESV / 25 helpful votes
When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV / 24 helpful votes
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Genesis 40:1-23 ESV / 24 helpful votes
Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody. And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. …
Psalm 91:16 ESV / 21 helpful votes
With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Proverbs 4:10-13 ESV / 19 helpful votes
Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.
Psalm 139:13-14 ESV / 19 helpful votes
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Zephaniah 3:17 ESV / 18 helpful votes
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 18 helpful votes
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
James 1:12 ESV / 17 helpful votes
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Matthew 3:14-17 ESV / 17 helpful votes
John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Habakkuk 3:2 ESV / 17 helpful votes
O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
Psalm 37:4 ESV / 17 helpful votes
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 71:6-8 ESV / 16 helpful votes
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you. I have been as a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.
Deuteronomy 26:11 ESV / 16 helpful votes
And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
1 John 5:19 ESV / 15 helpful votes
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
1 Peter 4:13 ESV / 15 helpful votes
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Romans 14:1-15:33 ESV / 15 helpful votes
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. …
Jonah 4:2-3 ESV / 15 helpful votes
And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Psalm 34:12 ESV / 15 helpful votes
What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
Romans 8:7 ESV / 14 helpful votes
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Matthew 11:11 ESV / 14 helpful votes
Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Ecclesiastes 11:9 ESV / 14 helpful votes
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
Psalm 148:5 ESV / 14 helpful votes
Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created.
Psalm 139:1-24 ESV / 14 helpful votes
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. …
Philippians 1:18-30 ESV / 13 helpful votes
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. …
2 Corinthians 5:8-6:3 ESV / 13 helpful votes
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. …
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 13 helpful votes
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Luke 12:15 ESV / 13 helpful votes
And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Matthew 16:18-28 ESV / 13 helpful votes
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” …
Matthew 14:1-36 ESV / 13 helpful votes
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. …
Psalm 119:9 ESV / 13 helpful votes
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
Psalm 100:3 ESV / 13 helpful votes
Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
James 1:17-18 ESV / 12 helpful votes
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
1 Thessalonians 1:2-5 ESV / 12 helpful votes
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
John 4:24 ESV / 12 helpful votes
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Psalm 22:10 ESV / 12 helpful votes
On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Job 3:1-4:21 ESV / 12 helpful votes
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said: “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’ Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. …
Mark 6:1-56 ESV / 11 helpful votes
He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. …
Jeremiah 1:5 ESV / 11 helpful votes
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Proverbs 25:27 ESV / 11 helpful votes
It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.
Proverbs 14:13-14 ESV / 11 helpful votes
Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief. The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
Psalm 116:15 ESV / 11 helpful votes
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Psalm 103:1-22 ESV / 11 helpful votes
Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. …
Psalm 91:11 ESV / 11 helpful votes
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Jeremiah 20:14-18 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?
Isaiah 40:31 ESV / 10 helpful votes
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Proverbs 3:1-35 ESV / 10 helpful votes
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. …
Numbers 8:1-4 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.” And Aaron did so: he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
Colossians 3:15 ESV / 9 helpful votes
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
1 Corinthians 11:12 ESV / 9 helpful votes
For as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 ESV / 8 helpful votes
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— …
1 Corinthians 1:4 ESV / 8 helpful votes
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
Romans 1:25 ESV / 8 helpful votes
Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Ecclesiastes 9:1-18 ESV / 8 helpful votes
But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. …
Psalm 39:4-5 ESV / 8 helpful votes
“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Hebrews 11:5-26 ESV / 7 helpful votes
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. …
Philippians 4:1-23 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; …
Philippians 1:1-13 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. …
Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Galatians 2:20 ESV / 7 helpful votes
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Romans 12:1-3 ESV / 7 helpful votes
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-14 ESV / 7 helpful votes
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. …
Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 ESV / 7 helpful votes
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; …
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.