You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you. For you have all shared with me in this privilege that God has given me, both now that I am in prison and also while I was free to defend the gospel and establish it firmly.

I remember the sincere faith you have, the kind of faith that your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice also had. I am sure that you have it also.

I am sure, as I write this, that you will do what I ask---in fact I know that you will do even more.

But even if we speak like this, dear friends, we feel sure about you. We know that you have the better blessings that belong to your salvation.

And so I will always remind you of these matters, even though you already know them and are firmly grounded in the truth you have received.

I write you, then, not because you do not know the truth; instead, it is because you do know it, and you also know that no lie ever comes from the truth.

Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.

He has told us of the love that the Spirit has given you.

Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.

For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge;

to your godliness add Christian affection; and to your Christian affection add love.

Now, concerning what you wrote about food offered to idols. It is true, of course, that "all of us have knowledge," as they say. Such knowledge, however, puffs a person up with pride; but love builds up.

But not everyone knows this truth. Some people have been so used to idols that to this day when they eat such food they still think of it as food that belongs to an idol; their conscience is weak, and they feel they are defiled by the food.

Suppose a person whose conscience is weak in this matter sees you, who have so-called "knowledge," eating in the temple of an idol; will not this encourage him to eat food offered to idols?

Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.

And so encourage one another and help one another, just as you are now doing.

We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

In the same way instruct the older women to behave as women should who live a holy life. They must not be slanderers or slaves to wine. They must teach what is good,

in order to train the younger women to love their husbands and children,

There has been enough time for you to be teachers---yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk.

Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.

Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer.

But you, my friends, keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,

Show mercy toward those who have doubts;