1 You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. 3 So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.
we can all say that we have been treated badly and that we suffered in this life... but not until recently could I say that it has to do with the will of God and not my own wrongdoing... in the past I was treated badly by my family because of bad choices I made.. I was treated badly by my father through no fault of my own... but the majority of the times.. it was about my choices.. or people I allowed in my life treated me badly that should not have been there to begin with... but now... people just don't like me for no reason... I think that is far more hurtful... when they hate you just for being... being somewhere they don't want me to be.. having something they don't want me to have... whatever it is... but I think that paul and whoever was with him were persecuted for preaching about Jesus... and that is amazing... I believe we have persecution now.. but the enemy is so much more slick with it... he tries to make it look like it is about us or something we have done.. yet in the end... we are still hated just because Jesus loves us... how very sad....
4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. 5 Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! 6 As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.
our purpose is to please God not people... can or do people say that about us? they should be... even when we look crazy or stupid because we are following what Christ would have us to do... that is still honorable... as for human praise... while it feels good.. it never lasts... they may love you today and hate you tomorrow... God's approval is really what we need to be striving for...
7 As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. 8 We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.
what rights to the people of God have to make demands on you? do you participate in the kingdom of God... do you work in the vineyard of the Lord? or do you... like so many others.. just get what you can and be on your way..... we are to be servants to the most high God... the bible says that God is coming back for His church... if we are not part of a church.. how can we be who He is coming back for? we are responsible for the lives that Christ assigns us to... we are responsible to teach our kids... we are responsible to be a light to others...
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