²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly;^(A) I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.^(B)

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters,^[a] make every effort to confirm your calling^(A) and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,^(B)

²¹ For to me, to live is Christ^(A) and to die is gain.

⁵ Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown^(A) except by competing according to the rules.

¹² That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame,^(A) because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard^(B) what I have entrusted to him until that day.^(C)

²⁹ To this end I strenuously^(A) contend^(B) with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.^(C)

To the Elders and the Flock

5 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder^(A) and a witness^(B) of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed:^(C)

A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God

4 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.^(A)

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,^(A) but against the rulers, against the authorities,^(B) against the powers^(C) of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.^(D)