The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.
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As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it.
2 God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help.
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For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
3 Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing.
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We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry.
4 Our work as God's servants gets validated - or not - in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times;
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In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.
5 when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating;
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We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.
6 with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love;
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We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.
7 when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right;
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We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense.
8 when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted;
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We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors.
9 ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die;
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We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed.
10 immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.
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Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
11 Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.
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Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you.
12 We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way.
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There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us.
13 I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
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I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!
14 Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark?
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Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
15 Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands?
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What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil ? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
16 Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: "I'll live in them, move into them; I'll be their God and they'll be my people.
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And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
17 So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good," says God. "Don't link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself.
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Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD . Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.
18 I'll be a Father to you; you'll be sons and daughters to me."
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And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty. ”
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.