2 Corinthians 4:7-18

7God has given to us the gift to speak his message. But we ourselves are very weak. It is like we are keeping his valuable gift in clay pots. So it is clear that the great power of God's message comes from God himself. It does not come from us.

8We receive trouble all the time, but that does not stop us. We do not always know what to do, but we are not afraid to continue.

9We have many enemies, but we always have friends. People hurt us, but they never destroy us.

10As we serve Jesus, we know that we may die as he died. Because of that, our lives show that we live because he is alive.

11Yes, as we live our lives, death is always very near, because we serve Jesus. As a result, people can see in our weak, human bodies that Jesus is alive.

12So death is near to us, even as we live. But as a result, we are bringing God's life to you.

13This is written in the Bible: ‘I believed in God, and so I spoke.’ We also have the same kind of faith in God. So we also speak God's message, because we believe in him.

14God raised up the Lord Jesus, to become alive again after his death. Because we belong to Jesus, we know that God will also raise us up after we die. Together with you, God will take us to be where he is.

15In everything that we do, we want to help you. As a result, more and more people are seeing how kind God is. So people are thanking God more and more. And that shows how great God is.

16That is why we are not afraid to continue our work. Yes, our bodies are getting older and weaker. But our spirits are becoming stronger every day!

17We have these little troubles that continue for a short time. But as a result, we will receive the great things that God has prepared for us. Those great things are much more important than our little troubles. And God's great things will continue for ever!

18So we do not look at the things that we can see in this world. Instead, we look at the things that people cannot see. The things that we can see are only here for a short time. But the things that we cannot see will continue for ever.