…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.
The old life is gone;
a new life has begun!
All of this is a gift from God,
who brought us back to himself through Christ.
We speak for Christ when we plead,
“Come back to God!”
For God made Christ,
who never sinned,
to be the offering for our sin,
so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in
is taken down
(that is, when we die and leave this earthly body),
we will have a house in heaven,
an eternal body made for us by God himself
and not by human hands.
…we want to put on our new bodies
so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
…we live by believing and not by seeing.
…never give up.
Though our bodies are dying,
our spirits are being renewed every day.
For our present troubles are small
and won’t last very long.
Yet they produce for us a glory
that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
So don’t look at the troubles we can see now;
rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.
For the things we see now will soon be gone,
but the things we cannot see will last forever.
…We were crushed and overwhelmed
beyond our ability to endure,
and we thought we would never live through it.
In fact, we expected to die.
But as a result,
we stopped relying on ourselves
and learned to rely only on God,
who raises the dead.
Be on guard.
Stand firm in the faith.
Be courageous.
Be strong.
And do everything with love.
“For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures,
where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’
There is salvation in no one else!
God has given no other name under heaven
by which we must be saved.”
Father, I want these whom you have given me
to be with me where I am.
Then they can see all the glory you gave me
because you loved me
even before the world began!
“I am praying not only for these disciples
but also for all who will ever believe in me
through their message.”
…You will grieve,
but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.
It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor.
When her child is born,
her anguish gives way to joy
because she has brought a new baby into the world.
So you have sorrow now,
but I will see you again;
then you will rejoice,
and no one can rob you of that joy.
When the Spirit of truth comes,
he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own
but will tell you what he has heard.
He will tell you about the future.
