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

The Narrow Gate

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy^[a] that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.^{(A) 14} For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

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.

¹¹ Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.^{(A) 25} Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.^{(B) 26} So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, ²⁷ but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.^(C)

³¹ They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not obey them. For flattery is on their lips, but their heart is set on their gain.^[a](A)

Shining as Lights in the World

¹² Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling,^{(A) 13} for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

³⁶ Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”^(A)

²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”^(A)