Study Desk

We are workers together with God, so we beg you: Do not let the grace that you received from God be for nothing.

God says, "At the right time I heard your prayers. On the day of salvation I helped you." Isaiah 49:8 I tell you that the "right time" is now, and the "day of salvation" is now.

But in every way we show we are servants of God: in accepting many hard things, in troubles, in difficulties, and in great problems.

We show we are servants of God by our pure lives, our understanding, patience, and kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by true love,

The temple of God cannot have any agreement with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said: "I will live with them and walk with them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Dear friends, we have these promises from God, so we should make ourselves pure—free from anything that makes body or soul unclean. We should try to become holy in the way we live, because we respect God.

But God, who comforts those who are troubled, comforted us when Titus came.

Now I am happy, not because you were made sad, but because your sorrow made you change your lives. You became sad in the way God wanted you to, so you were not hurt by us in any way.

The kind of sorrow God wants makes people change their hearts and lives. This leads to salvation, and you cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has brings death.

See what this sorrow—the sorrow God wanted you to have—has done to you: It has made you very serious. It made you want to restore yourselves. It made you angry and afraid. It made you want to see me. It made you care. It made you want to do the right thing. In every way you have regained your innocence.

I wrote that letter, not because of the one who did the wrong or because of the person who was hurt. I wrote the letter so you could see, before God, the great care you have for us.

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace God gave the churches in Macedonia.

And they gave in a way we did not expect: They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants.

I thank God because he gave Titus the same love for you that I have.

Each of you should give as you have decided in your heart to give. You should not be sad when you give, and you should not give because you feel forced to give. God loves the person who gives happily.

And God can give you more blessings than you need. Then you will always have plenty of everything—enough to give to every good work.

God is the One who gives seed to the farmer and bread for food. He will give you all the seed you need and make it grow so there will be a great harvest from your goodness.

He will make you rich in every way so that you can always give freely. And your giving through us will cause many to give thanks to God.

This service you do not only helps the needs of God's people, it also brings many more thanks to God.

It is a proof of your faith. Many people will praise God because you obey the Good News of Christ—the gospel you say you believe—and because you freely share with them and with all others.