So then whether we are alive or away, we make it our ambition to please him.

as sorrowful, but always rejoicing, as poor, but making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord.

Just as it is written, “He has scattered widely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever.”

For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards,

I wish that you would be patient with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you are being patient with me!

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with indignation?

was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak.

For we rejoice whenever we are weak, but you are strong. And we pray for this: that you may become fully qualified.

But when the one who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was pleased

I assure you that, before God, I am not lying about what I am writing to you!

Have you suffered so many things for nothing? – if indeed it was for nothing.

Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,

Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all.

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand the law?

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love.

You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth?

Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.