11. Even today we go hungry and thirsty and don't have anything to wear except rags. We are ill-treated and don't have a place to live.
12. We work hard with our own hands, and when people abuse us, we wish them well. When we suffer, we are patient.
13. When someone curses us, we answer with kind words. Until now we are thought of as nothing more than the trash and rubbish of this world.
14. I am not writing to embarrass you. I want to help you, just as parents help their own dear children.
15. Ten thousand people may teach you about Christ, but I am your only father. You became my children when I told you about Christ Jesus,
16. and I want you to be like me.
17. That's why I sent Timothy to you. I love him like a son, and he is a faithful servant of the Lord. Timothy will tell you what I do to follow Christ and how it agrees with what I always teach about Christ in every church.
18. Some of you think I am not coming for a visit, and so you are boasting.
19. But if the Lord lets me come, I will soon be there. Then I will find out if the ones who are doing all this boasting really have any power.
20. God's kingdom isn't just a lot of words. It is power.
21. What do you want me to do when I arrive? Do you want me to be hard on you or to be kind and gentle?