²⁷ I have labored and toiled^(A) and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;^(B) I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.^{(C) 29} Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?^(D) Who is led into sin,^(E) and I do not inwardly burn?

³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast^(F) of the things that show my weakness.^(G)

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace^(A) is sufficient for you, for my power^(B) is made perfect in weakness.^(C)”^(D) Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight^(E) in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,^(F) in persecutions,^(G) in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.^(H)

Life by the Spirit

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.^(A) But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^[a];^(B) rather, serve one another^(C) humbly in love.

¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,^(A) as faithful^(B) stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.