No, we speak as people God has approved and entrusted with the good news. We’re not trying to please people; we’re trying to please God, who tests our hearts.
Now do I sound like somebody who wants people to think well of me? Or do I sound like somebody who wants God to think well of me? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn’t be serving Christ.
And so, my dear friends, as you’ve always obeyed God—not just while I was with you, but even more now that I’m not with you— continue to work out your own salvation. Do it with fear and trembling.
supply you with everything good so that you can do his will. May he create in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ. And may Jesus receive glory for ever and ever. Amen.
For this reason, we’ve been praying for you since the day we heard about you. We keep asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.
Epaphras, who’s from your community and who’s a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He’s always praying hard for you, that you’ll stand firm in the will of God and that you’ll be confident and mature.
Someone who was a slave when the Lord called them is now serving the Lord as a free person. But it’s just as true that someone who was free when God called them is now a slave of Christ.