12. It was made clear to them that their service was not for themselves. They were serving you when they told about the things you have now heard. You heard them from those who told you the Good News with the help of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels would like very much to know more about these things you were told.
13. So prepare your minds for service. With complete self-control put all your hope in the grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ comes.
14. In the past you did not have the understanding you have now, so you did the evil things you wanted to do. But now you are children of God, so you should obey him and not live the way you did before.
15. Be holy in everything you do, just as God is holy. He is the one who chose you.
16. In the Scriptures God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.”
17. You pray to God and call him Father, but he will judge everyone the same way—by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God.
18. You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver.
19. You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb.
20. Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you.
21. You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God.
22. You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply—with all your heart.
23. You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever.
24. The Scriptures say, “Our lives are like the grass of spring, and any glory we enjoy is like the beauty of a wildflower. The grass dries up and dies, and the flower falls to the ground.
25. But the word of the Lord lasts forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8 And that word is the Good News that was told to you.