| 2:1 | So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. |
| 2:2 | Pass on what you heard from me--the whole congregation saying Amen!--to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. |
| 2:3 | When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. |
| 2:4 | A soldier on duty doesn't get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. |
| 2:5 | An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. |
| 2:6 | It's the diligent farmer who gets the produce. |
| 2:7 | Think it over. God will make it all plain. |
| 2:8 | Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It's what you've heard from me all along. |
| 2:9 | It's what I'm sitting in jail for right now--but God's Word isn't in jail! |
| 2:10 | That's why I stick it out here--so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory. |
| 2:11 | This is a sure thing: If we die with him, we'll live with him; |
| 2:12 | If we stick it out with him, we'll rule with him; If we turn our backs on him, he'll turn his back on us; |
| 2:13 | If we give up on him, he does not give up--for there's no way he can be false to himself. |
| 2:14 | Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God's people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. |
| 2:15 | Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. |
| 2:16 | Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they're not backed by a godly life, |
| 2:17 | they accumulate as poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples, |
| 2:18 | throwing believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the resurrection is over and done with. |
| 2:19 | Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones: GOD KNOWS WHO BELONGS TO HIM. SPURN EVIL, ALL YOU WHO NAME GOD AS GOD |
| 2:20 | In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets--some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. |
| 2:21 | Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing. |
| 2:22 | Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness--faith, love, peace--joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. |
| 2:23 | Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. |
| 2:24 | God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, |
| 2:25 | working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, |
| 2:26 | enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands. |
2 Timothy 2 - The Message Bible
