We who are strong in the faith ought to help the weak to carry their burdens. We should not please ourselves.

Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world or to the powers that rule this world---powers that are losing their power.

Do not be like children in your thinking, my friends; be children so far as evil is concerned, but be grown up in your thinking.

So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

Greetings from Epaphras, another member of your group and a servant of Christ Jesus. He always prays fervently for you, asking God to make you stand firm, as mature and fully convinced Christians, in complete obedience to God's will.

so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.

Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil.

Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

But if we obey his word, we are the ones whose love for God has really been made perfect. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God:

I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.

So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above.

But I still feel confident about you. Our life in union with the Lord makes me confident that you will not take a different view and that whoever is upsetting you will be punished by God.

Because the LORD is righteous and good, he teaches sinners the path they should follow.

He leads the humble in the right way and teaches them his will.

Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight.

If you do, you will know what it means to fear the LORD and you will succeed in learning about God.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know.

Remember the LORD in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.

There will be a highway there, called "The Road of Holiness." No sinner will ever travel that road; no fools will mislead those who follow it.

As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on my own authority.

But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.