⁴ No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer.

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

¹⁴ As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

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

²² For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave belonging to Christ.^{(A) 23} You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of humans.^(B)

²⁵ Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.^{(A) 26} So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air,

¹⁰ for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia,^[a] Titus to Dalmatia.^(A)

⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.

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

⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.^{(A) 10} For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

The Good Fight of Faith

¹¹ But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made^[a] the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.^(B)