Do everything without complaining or arguing,
so that you may become blameless and pure,
children of God without fault
in a crooked and depraved generation,
in which you shine like stars in the universe
as you hold out the word of life…
…offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God—
this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus
as your Lord,
you must continue to follow him.
Let your roots grow down into him,
and let your lives be built on him.
Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught,
and you will overflow with thankfulness.
…And this is the secret:
Christ lives in you.
This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
…understand God’s mysterious plan,
which is Christ himself.
In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created
and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities
in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation tougher.
This same Good News that came to you
is going out all over the world.
It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives,
just as it changed your lives
from the day you first heard and understood
the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
…live as citizens of heaven,
conducting yourselves in a manner worthy
of the Good News about Christ…
standing together with one spirit and one purpose,
fighting together for the faith,
which is the Good News.
Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies…
We are in this struggle together…
Yes, everything else is worthless
when comparedwith the infinite value
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have discarded everything else,
counting it all as garbage,
so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.
I no longer count on my own righteousness
through obeying the law;
rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.
For God’s way of making us right with himself
depends on faith.
