²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air,

¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.

²¹ For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

⁵ And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules.^(A)

²⁹ For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.^(A)

²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.^(A)

¹² and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day the deposit I have entrusted to him.^[a](A)

Tending the Flock of God

5 Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you^(A)

The Rest That God Promised

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it.^(A)

¹² for our^[a] struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present^[b] darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.^[c](A)