Friendship with the World

41 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members ? 2 You lust and do not have ; so you commit murder . You are envious and cannot e obtain ; so you fight and quarrel . You do not have because you do not ask . 3 You ask and do not receive , because you ask with wrong motives , so that you may spend it on your pleasures . 4 You adulteresses , do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God ? Therefore whoever e wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God . 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose : "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? 6 But He gives a greater grace . Therefore it says , " GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD , BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE ." 7 Submit therefore to God . Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands , you sinners ; and purify your hearts , you double-minded . 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep ; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom . 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord , and He will exalt you.

Judging a Brother

11 Do not speak against one another , brethren . He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother , speaks against the law and judges the law ; but if you judge the law , you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge , the One who is able to save and to destroy ; but who are you who judge your neighbor ?

Boast Not of Tomorrow

13 Come now , you who say , " Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city , and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit ." 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow . You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away . 15 Instead , you ought to say , " If the Lord wills , we will live and also do this or that." 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance ; all such boasting is evil . 17 Therefore , to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin .