18-20 It is a good thing to be passionate in doing good, but not just when I am in your presence. Can’t you continue the same concern for both my person and my message when I am away from you that you had when I was with you? Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ’s life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. Oh, I keep wishing that I was with you. Then I wouldn’t be reduced to this blunt, letter-writing language out of sheer frustration.

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18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.(A) 19 My dear children,(B) for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,(C) 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

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