Irrepreensível
Ser irrepreensível não é ser perfeito — é viver com integridade diante de Deus e dos homens. A Bíblia nos chama a buscar uma vida reta, pura e sem manchas visíveis de hipocrisia.
O padrão divino
Deus é perfeito e chama seus filhos à integridade. A palavra de Deus é purificada e Ele é escudo dos que caminham na retidão.
Your way is perfect, Lord,
and your word is correct.
You are a shield for those
who run to you for help.
Your way is perfect, Lord,
and your word is correct.
You are a shield for those
who run to you for help.
Our Lord, you bless everyone
who lives right
and obeys your Law.
Only those who obey God
and do as they should.
They speak the truth
and don’t spread gossip;
they treat others fairly
and don’t say cruel things.
God gives helpful advice
to everyone who obeys him
and protects those
who live as they should.
Buscar a perfeição em Cristo
Todos tropeçamos em muitas coisas, mas o alvo é a maturidade. Cristo é a fonte da salvação eterna para todos os que lhe obedecem.
All of us do many wrong things. But if you can control your tongue, you are mature and able to control your whole body.
Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.
Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing.
Suffering made Jesus perfect, and now he can save forever all who obey him.
Jesus replied, "If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you own! Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and be my follower."
Vida íntegra
Que a vossa alegria seja completa! Vivam em harmonia, sejam irrepreensíveis — transformados pela renovação da mente.
I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am.
You have not asked for anything in this way before, but now you must ask in my name. Then it will be given to you, so you will be completely happy.
Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.
My dear friends, as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you to get along with each other. Don’t take sides. Always try to agree in what you think.
Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.
Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God’s Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought:
Christ was truly God.
But he did not try to remain
equal with God.
Instead he gave up everything
and became a slave,
when he became
like one of us.
Christ was humble.
He obeyed God and even died
on a cross.
Then God gave Christ
the highest place
and honored his name
above all others.
So at the name of Jesus
everyone will bow down,
those in heaven, on earth,
and under the earth.
And to the glory
of God the Father
everyone will openly agree,
"Jesus Christ is Lord!"
My dear friends, you always obeyed when I was with you. Now that I am away, you should obey even more. So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved. God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.
Do everything without grumbling or arguing. Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God. You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything they can say is wrong. Try to shine as lights among the people of this world, as you hold firmly to the message that gives life. Then on the day when Christ returns, I can take pride in you. I can also know that my work and efforts were not useless.
Your faith in the Lord and your service are like a sacrifice offered to him. And my own blood may have to be poured out with the sacrifice. If this happens, I will be glad and rejoice with you. In the same way, you should be glad and rejoice with me.
I want to be encouraged by news about you. So I hope the Lord Jesus will soon let me send Timothy to you. I don’t have anyone else who cares about you as much as he does. The others think only about what interests them and not about what concerns Christ Jesus. But you know what kind of person Timothy is. He has worked with me like a son in spreading the good news. I hope to send him to you, as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me. And I feel sure the Lord will also let me come soon.
I think I ought to send my dear friend Epaphroditus back to you. He is a follower and a worker and a soldier of the Lord, just as I am. You sent him to look after me, but now he is eager to see you. He is worried, because you heard he was sick. In fact, he was very sick and almost died. But God was kind to him, and also to me, and he kept me from being burdened down with sorrow.
Now I am more eager than ever to send Epaphroditus back again. You will be glad to see him, and I won’t have to worry any longer. Be sure to give him a cheerful welcome, just as people who serve the Lord deserve. He almost died working for Christ, and he risked his own life to do for me what you could not.
Don’t be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.
But he knows what I am doing,
and when he tests me,
I will be pure as gold.
* I have never refused to follow
any of his commands,