⁴ No soldier ^(A)gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

⁴ but just as we have been approved by God ^(A)to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not ^(B)to please man, but to please God ^(C)who tests our hearts.

¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but ^(A)as they go on their way they are choked by the ^(B)cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

²⁰ For if, ^(A)after they have escaped the defilements of the world ^(B)through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^(C)the last state has become worse for them than the first.

²² For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is ^(A)a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is ^(B)a bondservant of Christ. ^23 (C)You were bought with a price; ^(D)do not become bondservants of men.

²⁵ Every ^(A)athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we ^(B)an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I ^(C)do not box as one ^(D)beating the air.

¹⁰ For ^(A)Demas, ^(B)in love with ^(C)this present world, ^(D)has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia,^{[a] (E)}Titus to Dalmatia.

⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to ^(A)please him.

⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ And Jesus^[a] said to him, “Leave ^(A)the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and ^(B)proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, ^(C)but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² Jesus said to him, ^(D)“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”