Humility1See what great encouragement you have because you are united with Christ. Look at how you are strengthened by His love for you. And because you live at one with the Spirit, you are tender-hearted and compassionate.2So you will complete my joy if you are united in the way you think, in the love you have for each other and in the way you live in the Spirit to fulfil God's purpose.3To fulfil these aims, be sure never to act out of selfish ambition. And do not be conceited, for that is only empty vanity. Rather, live humbly, thinking that others are better than yourselves.4Yes, you will have to be responsible about your own affairs, but you should be equally concerned about the interests of others around you.5In fact your attitude should reflect that of Christ Jesus Himself:6By nature He is God, but He did not hold onto His divine status of being equal in heaven with the Father.7He was prepared to make Himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant and becoming thoroughly human.8He was a Man in every respect, even though He retained His divinity. Even so, He humbled Himself to such an extent that He obeyed the Father's will, that He should die the death of a criminal on the cross.9Because of His obedience, God the Father has now exalted Him to the highest place in heaven, and has given Him the name that is far superior to any other name.10Every knee in heaven, on earth and even in the underworld, will bow at the name of Jesus.11Every tongue will have to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, for this is the Father's glorious will.Faithful witnesses12My dear friends, you see why it has been so important for you to obey the Lord, not only when I am with you but even more when we are apart. Continue to live as those who are saved, who fear the Lord, dreading the idea of ever denying Him.13For God Himself is at work within you so that you want to do what is good in His eyes.14-16Therefore, there is to be no complaining or arguing among you, no matter what you are asked to do, for this will enable you to become blameless and pure, living as God's children in an unrighteous and depraved generation. You are to shine like the stars in the universe as you share the Word of life with others. Then on the great Day of the Lord I will be able to boast that all my work among you was not for nothing.17Even if my life was poured out in sacrifice, even if it is costly to serve you so that you live as people of faith, I am content and rejoice with you all.18That being the case, it is only right that you should also be content and rejoicing with me.Paul commends his colleagues19I hope that it will be the Lord's will to send Timothy to you in the near future, for then he will be able to bring me news about you, and that will encourage me.20He is unique in the way he is genuinely concerned about your welfare.21Everyone seems more concerned about their own interests than those of Jesus Christ!22But Timothy has already proved himself, as you know. He regards me as his spiritual father and, like a good son, he has served with me in working for the gospel.23This is why I hope to send him to you just as soon as I can spare him.24And I trust the Lord that my circumstances will change so that I will soon be able to visit you myself.25Meanwhile, I think it expedient to send my brother Epaphroditus back to you. He is my fellow worker and soldiers along with me. And he is your messenger, whom you sent to care for me.26But he misses you all and was really upset that you heard about his illness.27He was very sick and almost died; but God showed His mercy and healed him. That was God showing mercy to me as well as him, to save me from any further sorrow on top of what I was already experiencing.28This is why I am so keen to send him back to you, for you will be reassured when you see him, instead of being anxious about his welfare.29Welcome him back, joyfully thanking God for him. Always honour men like him.30It was because of his faithfulness to the work of Christ that he almost died. He was prepared to risk his life to help me in ways you are unable to fulfil.
Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)