So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air.
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.