Quotes and Readings of the Day

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

A Life Pleasing to God


Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.



Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.

From the New Revised Standard Version. Reprinted with permission from HarperBibles.

TAGS: Bible

Leviticus 24:1-24:23

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Command the Israelite people to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. Aaron shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting outside the curtain of the Pact [to burn] from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it is a law for all time throughout the ages. He shall set up the lamps on the pure lampstand before the Lord [to burn] regularly.

You shall take choice flour and bake of it twelve loaves, two-tenths of a measure for each loaf. Place them on the pure table before the Lord in two rows, six to a row. With each row you shall place pure frankincense, which is to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire to the Lord. He shall arrange them before the Lord regularly every sabbath day--it is a commitment for all time on the part of the Israelites. They shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who shall eat them in the sacred precinct; for they are his as most holy things from the Lord's offerings by fire, a due for all time.

There came out among the Israelites one whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman pronounced the Name in blasphemy, and he was brought to Moses--now his mother's name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan--and he was placed in custody, until the decision of the Lord should be made clear to them.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the blasphemer outside the camp; and let all who were within hearing lay their hands upon his head, and let the whole community stone him.

And to the Israelite people speak thus: Anyone who blasphemes his God shall bear his guilt; if he also pronounces the name Lord, he shall be put to death. The whole community shall stone him; stranger or citizen, if he has thus pronounced the Name, he shall be put to death.

If anyone kills any human being, he shall be put to death. One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it: life for life. If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury he inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him. One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it; but one who kills a human being shall be put to death. You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike: for I the Lord am your God.

Moses spoke thus to the Israelites. And they took the blasphemer outside the camp and pelted him with stones. The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

From Parshat Emor. From THE TANAKH: The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. Used by permission.

TAGS: Torah, Torah Reading, Judaism, Leviticus

But just as one human being can influence the will of another by efforts at persuasion, or by motivating it in one another or another way through arousing emotions, so angels have even greater power to influence the will of individuals in these indirect ways.

-Mortimer J. Adler

From the book, An Angel a Day by Margaret Neylon. © Margaret Neylon 2003. Published by arrangement with Thorsons / Element.

TAGS: Angel Quote, Angels, Human, Indirect Ways, Emotions, Individuals, Mortimer J Adler

Meditate on that which is beyond words and symbols. Forsake the demands of the self. By such forsaking you will live serenely.

-Sutta Nipata

From "The Pocket Buddha Reader," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.

TAGS: The Pocket Buddha Reader, Buddhist Quote, Buddhism, Symbols, Words

I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exlusively on the present. That's where the fun is.

-Donald Trump

TAGS: Entertainment Quote, Plan, Celebrities, Learning, Spiritual, Celebrity Spirituality, Entertainment

To pretend to describe the excellence, the greatness or duration of the happiness of heaven by the most artful composition of words would be but to darken and cloud it; to talk of raptures and ecstasies, joy and singing, is but to set forth very low shadows of the reality.

TAGS: Evangelical, Evangelical Quote, Christianity

Avoid products that are packaged for one use such as individually wrapped snacks or bottled drinks.

TAGS: Eco Tips

It's not how much you have that makes people look up to you, it's who you are.

-Elvis Presley

TAGS: Inspiration Quote, Look, People Look, Success, Example, Character, Elvis Presley

Learn to humble yourself, you are but earth and clay.

-Thomas à Kempis

TAGS: Evangelical, Evangelical Quote, Christianity

Health is not simply the absense of sickness.

-Hannah Greene

TAGS: Health Quote

"When a person is sleeping soundly, free from dreams, with a still mind, that is the Self, fearless and deathless. That is Brahman, the supreme."

Chandogya Upanishad

Excerpted from The Upanishads, translated by Eknath Easwaran, copyright 1987. Reprinted with permission from Nilgiri Press, www.nilgiri.org. To order the book, please call 1-800-475-2369.

TAGS: Hinduism, Hindu Quote

The quieter you become the more you can hear.

-Baba Ram Dass

TAGS: Glow, Holistic Living Quote, Spirituality, Holistic Living

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.

-Bertrand Russell

TAGS: Inspiration Quote, Happiness, Bertrand Russell, Simplicity, Indispensable Part

Disaster comes only because of ignorance.

-Judah HaNasi, Talmud: Baba Bathra

Reprinted with permission from 'A Treasury of Jewish Quotations,' edited by Joseph L. Baron, Jason Aronson Inc.

TAGS: Judaism, Jewish Quote

When your heart is dark as iron, steadily polish yourself that the heart may become a mirror, a beautiful shine reflecting from within. Although iron is dark and dismal, polishing clears the darkness away.

-Rumi

Rumi, "Mathnawi"

From "The Bounty of Allah," translated by Aneela Khalid Arshed. Copyright 1999. All rights reserved. Used with permission of The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York.

TAGS: Rumi, Islam Quote, Islam, Spirituality

Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.

-Marianne Williamson

TAGS: Relationship Quotes, Relationships, Pain, Suffering