⁶ Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede^(A) with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.

⁷ The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.”^(B)

⁸ But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions,^(C) I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread^(D) or drink water here. ⁹ For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’” ¹⁰ So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss^(A) for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing^(B) Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ^{(C) 9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,^(D) but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness^(E) that comes from God on the basis of faith.^{(F) 10} I want to know^(G) Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,^(H) becoming like him in his death,^{(I) 11} and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection^(J) from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,^(K) but I press on to take hold^(L) of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.^{(M) 13} Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind^(N) and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on^(O) toward the goal to win the prize^(P) for which God has called^(Q) me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature^(R) should take such a view of things.^(S) And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.^{(T) 16} Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example,^(U) brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.^{(V) 18} For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears,^(W) many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.^{(X) 19} Their destiny^(Y) is destruction, their god is their stomach,^(Z) and their glory is in their shame.^(AA) Their mind is set on earthly things.^{(AB) 20} But our citizenship^(AC) is in heaven.^(AD) And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,^{(AE) 21} who, by the power^(AF) that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies^(AG) so that they will be like his glorious body.^(AH)