12. We work hard with our own hands to feed ourselves. When people insult us, we ask God to bless them. When people treat us badly, we accept it.
13. When people say bad things about us, we try to say something that will help them. But people still treat us like the world’s garbage—everyone’s trash.
14. I am not trying to make you feel ashamed, but I am writing this to counsel you as my own dear children.
15. You may have ten thousand teachers in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. Through the Good News I became your father in Christ Jesus.
16. So I beg you to be like me.
17. That is why I am sending Timothy to you. He is my son in the Lord. I love him and trust him. He will help you remember the way I live in Christ Jesus—a way of life that I teach in every meeting of the church wherever I am.
18. Some of you are acting so proud, it seems as though you think I won’t be coming there again.
19. But I will come to you very soon, the Lord willing. Then I will see if these proud talkers have the power to do anything more than talk.
20. God’s kingdom is not seen in talk but in power.