Brothers and sisters, you imitated the members of the synagogues in Judea that believe in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own people the same things they suffered from the Jews,
Whenever we pray to our God and Father, we remember the work that your faith produces, the service that’s the result of your love, and the strength to continue that comes from your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I had bragged about you to him, and you haven’t let me down. Everything we said to you was true, and in the same way, everything we told Titus about you has also turned out to be true.
But each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them. Stay as you were when God chose you. That’s the rule I tell people to follow in all the churches.
As you know, we consider people blessed who don’t give up. You’ve heard that Job was patient, and you’ve seen what the Lord finally did for him. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
If people from Macedonia come with me and discover that you’re not ready, then we’ll be embarrassed for having been so confident about you. And you’ll be even more embarrassed!
I know how much you want to do that. I’ve been bragging about you to the people in Macedonia. I’ve been telling them that you who live in Achaia have been ready to give since last year. Your eagerness has stirred up most of them to give as well.
But hope that can be seen isn’t really hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we don’t have yet, we wait for it patiently.