Study Desk

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

We don't want people to find anything wrong with our work. So we do nothing that will be a problem to others.

You are not the same as those who don't believe. So don't join yourselves to them. Good and evil don't belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room.

"So come away from those people and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch anything that is not clean, and I will accept you."

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.

I do not say this to blame you. I told you before that we love you so much we would live or die with you.

It was so good to see him, but we were encouraged even more to hear about the encouragement you gave him. He told us that you really want to see me and that you are very sorry for what you did. And he told us how ready and willing you are to help me. When I heard this, I was so much happier.

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 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 that is what was so encouraging to us. We were greatly encouraged, but we were especially pleased to see how happy Titus was. You all made him feel so much better.

I am so happy that I can trust you fully.

So we asked Titus to help you finish this special work of giving. He is the one who started this work.

You are rich in everything—in faith, in speaking ability, in knowledge, in the willingness to help, and in the love you learned from us. So now we want you to be rich in this work of giving too.

I am not ordering you to give, but I want to see how real your love is by comparing you with others who have been so ready and willing to help.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that he gave up his heavenly riches for you. He gave up everything so that you could be richly blessed.

So now finish the work you started. Then your "doing" will be equal to your "wanting to do." Give from what you have.

We are being careful so that no one will criticize us about the way we are caring for this large gift.

So show these men that you really have love. Show them why we are proud of you. Then all the churches can see it.

If any of those from Macedonia come with me, and they find that you are not ready, we will be ashamed. We will be ashamed that we were so sure of you. And you will be ashamed too!

So I thought that I should ask these brothers to come there before we do. They will help in getting together the generous gift you promised. Then it will be ready when we come, and it will be seen as a blessing you are giving, not as something you were forced to do.