Study Desk

All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between himself and us. And God gave us the work of bringing people into peace with him.

I mean that God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold people guilty for their sins. And he gave us this message of peace to tell people.

So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is like God is calling to people through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God.

Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could be right with God.

We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Don't let the grace that you received from God be for nothing.

God says, "I heard you at the right time, and I gave you help on the day of salvation." I tell you that the "right time" is now. The "day of salvation" is now.

But in every way we show that we are servants of God. We never give up, even though we face troubles, difficulties, and problems of every kind.

God's temple cannot have anything to do with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said, "I will live with them and walk with them; 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 our body or our soul unclean. Our respect for God should make us try to be completely holy in the way we live.

But God encourages those who are troubled, and he certainly encouraged us by bringing Titus to us.

Now I am happy, not because you were made sad, but because your sorrow made you decide to change. That is what God wanted, so you were not hurt by us in any way.

The kind of sorrow God wants makes people decide to change their lives. This leads them to salvation, and we cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has will bring death.

You had the kind of sorrow God wanted you to have. Now see what that sorrow has brought you: It has made you very serious. It made you want to prove that you were not wrong. It made you angry and afraid. It made you want to see me. It made you care. It made you want the right thing to be done. You proved that you were not guilty in any part of that problem.

The main reason I wrote that letter was not because of the one who did the wrong or the one who was hurt. I wrote so that you would realize, before God, how very much you care for us.

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

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

Each one of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. You should not give if it makes you unhappy or if you feel forced to give. God loves those who are happy to give.

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

God is the one who gives seed to those who plant, and he gives bread for food. And God will give you spiritual seed and make that seed grow. He will produce a great harvest from your goodness.

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