Daily Bible GNT April 24 Verses

Suffering for Doing Right

⁸To conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; love one another, and be kind and humble with one another. ⁹Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you. ¹⁰As the scripture says,

"If you want to enjoy life

and wish to see good times,

you must keep from speaking evil

and stop telling lies.

¹¹You must turn away from evil and do good;

you must strive for peace with all your heart.

¹²For the Lord watches over the righteous

and listens to their prayers;

but he opposes those who do evil."

¹³Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, how happy you are! Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry. ¹⁵But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, ¹⁶but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God's will, than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually, ¹⁹and in his spiritual existence he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits. T²⁰These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat--eight in all--were saved by the water, ²¹which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone to heaven and is at the right side of God, ruling over all angels and heavenly authorities and powers.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

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