6Companions 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.G3870G1161G4903G3870G2532G5209G1209G3361G5485G2316G1519G2756 2God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.G1063G3004G1873G4675G2540G1184G2532G1722G2250G4991G997G4671G2400G3568G2144G2540G2400G3568G2250G4991 3Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing.G1325G3367G4349G1722G3367G3363G1248G3469G3363G3469 4Our 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;G235G1722G3956G4921G1438G5613G1249G2316G1722G4183G5281G1722G2347G1722G318G1722G4730 5when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating;G1722G4127G1722G5438G1722G181G1722G2873G1722G70G1722G3521 6with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love;G1722G54G1722G1108G1722G3115G1722G5544G1722G40G4151G1722G26G505 7when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right;G1722G3056G225G1722G1411G2316G1223G3696G1343G1188G2532G710 8when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted;G1223G1391G2532G819G1223G1426G2532G2162G5613G4108G2532G227 9ignored 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;G5613G50G2532G1921G5613G599G2532G2400G2198G5613G3811G2532G3361G2289 10immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.G5613G3076G1161G104G5463G5613G4434G1161G4148G4183G4148G5613G2192G3367G2532G2722G3956 11Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.G2881G2257G4750G455G4314G5209G2257G2588G4115 12We 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.G4729G3756G4729G1722G2254G1161G4729G1722G5216G4698 13I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!G1161G489G846G3004G5613G5043G4115G5210G2532G4115 14Don'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?G1096G3361G2086G571G1063G5101G3352G1343G2532G458G1161G5101G2842G5457G4314G4655 15Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands?G1161G5101G4857G5547G4314G955G2228G5101G3310G4103G3326G571 16Who 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.G1161G5101G4783G3485G2316G3326G1497G1063G5210G2075G3485G2198G2316G2531G2316G2036G3754G1774G1722G846G2532G1704G2532G2071G846G2316G2532G846G2071G3427G2992 17So 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.G1352G1831G1537G3319G846G2532G873G3004G2962G2532G680G3361G169G2504G1523G5209 18I'll be a Father to you; you'll be sons and daughters to me." The Word of the Master, God.G2532G2071G1519G3962G5213G2532G5210G2071G3427G5207G1519G2532G2364G3004G2962G3841
The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
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