Through the Bible – Day 250

₁From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and from Timothy, who is also a follower.

To God's church in Corinth and to all God's people in Achaia.

₂I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

₃Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort. ₄He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble. ₅We share in the terrible sufferings of Christ, but also in the wonderful comfort he gives. ₆We suffer in the hope that you will be comforted and saved. And because we are comforted, you will also be comforted, as you patiently endure suffering like ours. ₇You never disappoint us. You suffered as much as we did, and we know that you will be comforted as we were.

₈My friends, I want you to know what a hard time we had in Asia. Our sufferings were so horrible and so unbearable that death seemed certain. ₉In fact, we felt sure that we were going to die. But this made us stop trusting in ourselves and start trusting God, who raises the dead to life. ₁₀God saved us from the threat of death, and we are sure that he will do it again and again. ₁₁Please help us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks for the blessings we receive in answer to all these prayers.

₁₂We can be proud of our clear conscience. We have always lived honestly and sincerely, especially when we were with you. And we were guided by God's wonderful kindness instead of by the wisdom of this world. ₁₃I am not writing anything you cannot read and understand. I hope you will understand it completely, ₁₄just as you already partly understand us. Then when our Lord Jesus returns, you can be as proud of us as we are of you.

₁₅I was so sure of your pride in us that I had planned to visit you first of all. In this way you would have the blessing of two visits from me. ₁₆Once on my way to Macedonia and again on my return from there. Then you could send me on to Judea. ₁₇Do you think I couldn't make up my mind about what to do? Or do I seem like someone who says “Yes” or “No” simply to please others? ₁₈God can be trusted, and so can I, when I say that our answer to you has always been “Yes” and never “No”. ₁₉This is because Jesus Christ the Son of God is always “Yes” and never “No”. And he is the one that Silas, Timothy, and I told you about.

₂₀Christ says “Yes” to all of God's promises. That's why we have Christ to say “Amen” for us to the glory of God. ₂₁And so God makes it possible for you and us to stand firmly together with Christ. God is also the one who chose us ₂₂and put his Spirit in our hearts to show that we belong only to him.

₂₃God is my witness that I stayed away from Corinth, just to keep from being hard on you. ₂₄We are not bosses who tell you what to believe. We are working with you to make you glad, because your faith is strong.

₁I have decided not to make my next visit to you so painful. ₂If I make you feel bad, who would be left to cheer me up, except the people I had made to feel bad? ₃The reason I want to be happy is to make you happy. I wrote as I did because I didn't want to visit you and be made to feel bad, when you should make me feel happy. ₄At the time I wrote, I was suffering terribly. My eyes were full of tears, and my heart was broken. But I didn't want to make you feel bad. I only wanted to let you know how much I cared for you.