15. so that you will be blameless and pure, children of God without any fault. But you are living with evil people all around you, who have lost their sense of what is right. Among those people you shine like lights in a dark world,
16. and you offer them the teaching that gives life. So I can be proud of you when Christ comes again. You will show that my work was not wasted—that I ran in the race and won.
17. Your faith makes you give your lives as a sacrifice in serving God. Maybe I will have to offer my own life with your sacrifice. But if that happens, I will be glad, and I will share my joy with all of you.
18. You also should be glad and share your joy with me.
19. With the blessing of the Lord Jesus, I hope I will be able to send Timothy to you soon. I will be glad to learn how you are.
20. I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares for you.
21. Others are interested only in their own lives. They don’t care about the work of Christ Jesus.
22. You know the kind of person Timothy is. He has served with me in telling the Good News like a son with his father.
23. I plan to send him to you quickly, as soon as I know what will happen to me.
24. I am sure the Lord will help me come to you soon.
25. For now, I think I must send Epaphroditus back to you. He is my brother in God’s family, who works and serves with me in the Lord’s army. When I needed help, you sent him to me,
26. but now he wants very much to see all of you again. He is worried because you heard that he was sick.
27. He was sick and near death. But God helped him and me too, so that I would not have even more grief.
28. So I want very much to send him to you. When you see him, you can be happy. And I can stop worrying about you.
29. Welcome him in the Lord with much joy. Give honor to people like Epaphroditus.
30. He should be honored because he almost died for the work of Christ. He put his life in danger so that he could help me. This was help that you could not give me.