^24 (A)“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ^(B)money.^[a]

Do Not Love the World

^15 (A)Do not love the world or the things in the world. ^(B)If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—^(C)the desires of the flesh and ^(D)the desires of the eyes and pride of life^[a]—is not from the Father but is from the world.

^13 (A)No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

^4 (A)You adulterous people!^[a] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(B)Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁹ But ^(A)those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, ^(B)into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that ^(C)plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of ^(D)all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

¹⁰ For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying ^(A)to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a ^(B)servant^[a] of Christ.

^15 (A)And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, ^(B)choose this day whom you will serve, whether ^(C)the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ^(D)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ^(E)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, ^(A)Satan! For ^(B)it is written,

¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves ^(A)to anyone as obedient slaves,^[a] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(B)thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the ^(C)standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, ^(D)having been set free from sin, ^(E)have become slaves of righteousness. ^19 (F)I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For ^(G)just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members ^(H)as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

^20 (I)For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ^21 (J)But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things ^(K)of which you are now ashamed? ^(L)For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you ^(M)have been set free from sin and ^(N)have become slaves of God, ^(O)the fruit you get leads to sanctification and ^(P)its end, eternal life.