³⁹ Then Jesus told him, “I have come into the world to give sight to those who are spiritually blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

⁴⁰ The Pharisees who were standing there asked, “Are you saying we are blind?”

⁴¹ “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But your guilt remains because you claim to know what you are doing.

³ And why worry about a speck in the eye of a brother when you have a board in your own? ⁴ Should you say, ‘Friend, let me help you get that speck out of your eye,’ when you can’t even see because of the board in your own? ⁵ Hypocrite! First get rid of the board. Then you can see to help your brother.

⁵ But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough. For then you must learn to know God better and discover what he wants you to do. ⁶ Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have his way with you. ⁷ This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply. ⁸ The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But anyone who fails to go after these additions to faith is blind indeed, or at least very shortsighted and has forgotten that God delivered him from the old life of sin so that now he can live a strong, good life for the Lord.

²² And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don’t fool yourselves. ²³ For if a person just listens and doesn’t obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; ²⁴ as soon as he walks away, he can’t see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. ²⁵ But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God’s law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.

¹⁵ “I know you well—you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! ¹⁶ But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!

¹⁷ “You say, ‘I am rich, with everything I want; I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that spiritually you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.