B

Give to those in need

Deuteronomy 15:7 (MSG)
When you happen on someone who's in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that god, your God, is giving you, don't look the other way pretending you don't see him. Don't keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don't count the cost. Don't listen to that selfish voice saying, "It's almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled," and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He'll call god's attention to you and your blatant sin.

Proverbs 23:9

Proverbs 23:9 (MSG)
Don't bother talking sense to fools; they'll only poke fun at your words.

Trying to become rich

Proverbs 23:4 (MSG)
Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself! Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder.

Old life is dead

Colossians 3:3 (MSG)
Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

Restore

Psalm 41:4 (MSG)
I said, "god, be gracious! Put me together again— my sins have torn me to pieces." My enemies are wishing the worst for me; they make bets on what day I will die. If someone comes to see me, he mouths empty platitudes, All the while gathering gossip about me to entertain the street-corner crowd. These "friends" who hate me whisper slanders all over town. They form committees to plan misery for me.

Worship charades

Isaiah 1:13 (MSG)
"Quit your worship charades. I can't stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out! I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I'll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I'll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you've been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don't have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.

Live right

1 Corinthians 10:23 (MSG)
Looking at it one way, you could say, "Anything goes. Because of God's immense generosity and grace, we don't have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster." But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.

Watch your language

Ephesians 5:3 (MSG)
Don't allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don't talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn't fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.

Being a woman of my word

Matthew 5:4 (MSG)
"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

Matthew 5:33 (MSG)
"And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

James 2:5

James 2:5 (MSG)
Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn't it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren't they the ones who scorn the new name—"Christian"—used in your baptisms?

Stripping away of parasitic sins

Hebrews 12:1 (MSG)
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Proverbs 29:21, Proverbs 29:25

Proverbs 29:21 (MSG)
If you let people treat you like a doormat, you'll be quite forgotten in the end.

Proverbs 29:25 (MSG)
The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that.

Proverbs 28:14

Proverbs 28:14 (MSG)
A tenderhearted person lives a blessed life; a hardhearted person lives a hard life.

Proverbs 28:13

Proverbs 28:13 (MSG)
You can't whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.

Fame

Proverbs 27:2 (MSG)
Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.

Proverbs 27:21 (MSG)
The purity of silver and gold is tested by putting them in the fire; The purity of human hearts is tested by giving them a little fame.

Proverbs 27:2

Proverbs 27:2 (MSG)
Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.

Proverbs 26:7

Proverbs 26:7 (MSG)
A proverb quoted by fools is limp as a wet noodle.

Proverbs 25:13, Proverbs 25:17, Proverbs 25:28

Proverbs 25:13 (MSG)
Reliable friends who do what they say are like cool drinks in sweltering heat—refreshing!

Proverbs 25:17 (MSG)
And when you find a friend, don't outwear your welcome; show up at all hours and he'll soon get fed up.

Proverbs 25:28 (MSG)
A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.

Blog idea

Proverbs 25:9-10 (MSG)
In the heat of an argument, don't betray confidences; Word is sure to get around, and no one will trust you.

Proverbs 24:28-29

Proverbs 24:28-29 (MSG)
Don't talk about your neighbors behind their backs— no slander or gossip, please. Don't say to anyone, "I'll get back at you for what you did to me. I'll make you pay for what you did!"

Schadenfreude

Proverbs 24:17 (MSG)
Don't laugh when your enemy falls; don't crow over his collapse. god might see, and become very provoked, and then take pity on his plight.

Proverbs 19:6

Proverbs 19:6 (MSG)
Lots of people flock around a generous person; everyone's a friend to the philanthropist.

Proverbs 14:25, Proverbs 14:31

Proverbs 14:25 (MSG)
Souls are saved by truthful witness and betrayed by the spread of lies.

Proverbs 14:31 (MSG)
You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you're kind to the poor, you honor God.

Proverbs 14:12-13

Proverbs 14:12-13 (MSG)
There'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.

Proverbs 14:10, Proverbs 14:12-13

Proverbs 14:10 (MSG)
The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends will be an outsider at their celebrations.

Proverbs 14:12-13 (MSG)
There'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.