Book of Common Prayer
13 So fasten your belts—the belts of your minds! Keep yourselves under control. Set your hope completely on the grace that will be given you when Jesus the Messiah is revealed. 14 As children of obedience, don’t be squashed into the shape of the passions you used to indulge when you were still in ignorance. 15 Rather, just as the one who called you is holy, so be holy yourselves, in every aspect of behavior. 16 It is written, you see, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17 If you call on God as “Father”—the God, that is, who judges everyone impartially according to their work—behave with holy fear throughout the time in which you are resident here.
18 You know, after all, that you were ransomed from the futile practices inherited from your ancestors, and that this ransom came not through perishable things like gold or silver, 19 but through the precious blood of the Messiah, like a lamb without spot or blemish. 20 He was destined for this from before the foundation of the world, and appeared at the end of the times for your sake, 21 for you (that is) who through him believe in the God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Newborn babies
22 Once your lives have been purified by obeying the truth, resulting in a sincere love for all your fellow believers, love one another eagerly, from a pure heart. 23 You have been born again, not from seed which decays but from seed which does not—through the living and abiding word of God. 24 Because, you see—
All flesh is like grass
and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, and the flower falls
25 but the word of the Lord lasts forever.
That is the word that was announced to you.
13 Then children were brought to Jesus for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me! Don’t stop them! They are the sort the kingdom of heaven belongs to!” 15 And he laid his hands on them.
Then he moved on elsewhere.
The rich young man
16 Suddenly a man came up to Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what good thing must I do if I’m to possess the life of the age to come?”
17 “Why come to me with questions about what’s good?” retorted Jesus. “There is One who is good! If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he asked.
“These ones,” Jesus answered: “ ‘don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t tell lies under oath, 19 respect your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
20 “I’ve kept the lot,” said the young man. “What am I still short of?”
21 “If you want to complete the set,” Jesus replied, “go and sell everything you own and give it to the poor. That way you’ll have treasure in heaven! Then come and follow me.”
22 When the young man heard him say that, he went away very sad. He had many possessions.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.