A reliable messenger is refreshing to the one who sends him, like cold water in the heat of harvest time.

Finally hearing good news from a distant land is like a drink of cold water when you are dry and thirsty.

And so I will come to you full of joy, if it is God's will, and enjoy a refreshing visit with you.

But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the coming of Titus.

It was not only his coming that cheered us, but also his report of how you encouraged him. He told us how much you want to see me, how sorry you are, how ready you are to defend me; and so I am even happier now.

That is why we were encouraged. Not only were we encouraged; how happy Titus made us with his happiness over the way in which all of you helped to cheer him up!

I am all the more eager, then, to send him to you, so that you will be glad again when you see him, and my own sorrow will disappear.

That is why I am sending him to you, in order to cheer you up by telling you how all of us are getting along.

Now Timothy has come back, and he has brought us the welcome news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always think well of us and that you want to see us just as much as we want to see you.

So, in all our trouble and suffering we have been encouraged about you, friends. It was your faith that encouraged us,

Nothing makes me happier than to hear that my children live in the truth.

We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life.

Receive him, then, with joy, as a believer in the Lord. Show respect to all such people as he,

Remember your former leaders, who spoke God's message to you. Think back on how they lived and died, and imitate their faith.

My dear friend, do not imitate what is bad, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does what is bad has not seen God.

Everyone speaks well of Demetrius; truth itself speaks well of him. And we add our testimony, and you know that what we say is true.