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But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us.
Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."
1 Samuel Chapter 8: Verses 19 - 20
They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about.
They sing to the music of tambourine and harp; they make merry to the sound of the flute.
They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace.
Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?'
Job Chapter 21: Verses 11 - 15
Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases;
for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.
Though while he lived he counted himself blessed, and men praise you when you prosper-
Psalms Chapter 49: Verses 16 - 18
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity ; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?"
This is what the wicked are like, always carefree, they increase in wealth.
Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.
If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your children.
When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me
till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.
When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
Psalms Chapter 73: Verses 2 - 22
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.
Proverbs Chapter 14: Verses 12 - 13
He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.
Proverbs Chapter 21: Verse 17
Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
Proverbs Chapter 23: Verses 20 - 21
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs Chapter 27: Verse 1
He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.
Proverbs Chapter 27: Verse 7
All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1: Verse 8
I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless.
"Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?"
I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly,my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.
I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well,the delights of the heart of man.
I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless
Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done?
Ecclesiastes Chapter 2: Verses 1 - 12
The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?
For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?
Ecclesiastes Chapter 6: Verses 11 - 12
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth,his eyes not seeing sleep day or night-
then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 8: Verses 15 - 17
A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 10: Verse 19
Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.
So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 11: Verses 9 - 10
The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!"
Isaiah Chapter 22: Verses 12 - 13
You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!
In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come.
Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your clothes, put sackcloth around your waists.
Isaiah Chapter 32: Verses 9 - 11
You said, 'I will continue forever, the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.
"Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'
Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
Isaiah Chapter 47: Verses 7 - 9
Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.
Hosea Chapter 9: Verse 1
You put off the evil day and bring near a reign of terror.
You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.
You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments.
You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. The LORD Abhors the Pride of Israel
Amos Chapter 6: Verses 3 - 7
I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
Amos Chapter 8: Verse 10
You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
Haggai Chapter 1: Verse 6
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew Chapter 6: Verses 25 - 34
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew Chapter 10: Verse 39
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matthew Chapter 16: Verse 26
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them.
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew Chapter 18: Verses 1 - 4
For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew Chapter 24: Verses 38 - 39
The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
Luke Chapter 8: Verse 14
And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
Luke Chapter 12: Verse 19
At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'
"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.'
"Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'
"Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.'
"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
" 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'
"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' "The Cost of Being a Disciple
Luke Chapter 14: Verses 17 - 24
Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'
"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg,
I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'
"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
" 'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.'
"Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' " 'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'
"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?
"No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money."
Luke Chapter 16: Verses 1 - 13
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.
At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores
and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.
In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
Luke Chapter 16: Verses 19 - 25
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.
Luke Chapter 21: Verse 34
How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God ?
John Chapter 5: Verse 44
for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
John Chapter 12: Verse 43
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
John Chapter 15: Verse 19
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is,his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans Chapter 12: Verse 2
What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;
those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;
those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
1 Corinthians Chapter 7: Verses 29 - 31
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
1 Corinthians Chapter 10: Verse 6
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
1 Corinthians Chapter 15: Verse 32
For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
Philippians Chapter 3: Verses 18 - 19
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians Chapter 3: Verse 2
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Colossians Chapter 3: Verse 5
But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.
1 Timothy Chapter 5: Verse 6
No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs,he wants to please his commanding officer.
2 Timothy Chapter 2: Verse 4
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy Chapter 2: Verse 22
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,
always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
2 Timothy Chapter 3: Verses 2 - 7
It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
Titus Chapter 2: Verse 12
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
Titus Chapter 3: Verse 3
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
Hebrews Chapter 11: Verses 24 - 26
My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.
If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet,"
have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
James Chapter 2: Verses 1 - 4
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
James Chapter 4: Verse 4
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
James Chapter 4: Verse 9
You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.
James Chapter 5: Verse 5
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
1 Peter Chapter 1: Verse 14
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
1 Peter Chapter 1: Verse 24
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
1 Peter Chapter 2: Verse 11
For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do,living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.
1 Peter Chapter 4: Verses 3 - 4
But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed,an accursed brood!
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
2 Peter Chapter 2: Verses 12 - 15
For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.
2 Peter Chapter 2: Verse 18
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For everything in the world,the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does,comes not from the Father but from the world.
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.Warning Against Antichrists
1 John Chapter 2: Verses 15 - 17
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