2 Timothy 1

I, Paul, am writing to Timothy. Christ Jesus sent me as an apostle to tell everyone that if they are united with him, God promises to make them live both now and forever.

Timothy, I love you like my own son. May God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord act kindly and mercifully and peacefully toward you.

I thank God and I serve Him because I truly want to do what he wants, just as my ancestors did. I have always remembered to pray for you, Timothy, night and day.

I really want to see you because I remember how you cried for me. If I see you again, I will be completely joyful.

I remember that you truly believe in Jesus! First, your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice trusted their lives to Jesus Christ, and I am sure that you also trust in Jesus Christ just like they did!

Because you trust in Jesus, I remind you to start using again the gift God gave you when I put my hands on you and prayed for you.

When God's Spirit came to us, he did not cause us to be afraid; instead, he caused us to have power to obey God, to love him and others, and to control ourselves.

Do not be ashamed when you tell others about our Lord Jesus. And do not be ashamed of me because I am in prison for putting my trust in Jesus. But you also should be willing to suffer hardship with me. And so we are telling the good news to many people, even while we are suffering together. We are enduring this suffering because God gives us the strength we need.

God saved us and called us to be his own people. He did not save us because of any good works we did. No, God planned to save us and he is kind to us! God did all of this through the life and work of Christ Jesus, a plan that God had made long before the beginning of time.

Now everyone can see that God can save them because our Savior Christ Jesus came and destroyed death and showed everyone the good news, the truth that he causes people to live forever.

It was for this reason that God decided to send me to be an apostle, preacher, and teacher.

In these tasks I suffer, but I am not ashamed, because I know and have trusted Jesus Christ, and I am convinced that he is able to protect my faith in him until the final day.

As you trust in Jesus Christ and love him, follow the meaning of true words that you heard from me.

God is relying on you, that you will preach the good message that he gave to you. Protect that message by relying on the Holy Spirit, who lives in us.

You know that almost all the believers in Asia have stopped being friends with me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

But I pray that the Lord will be kind to the family of Onesiphorus. Often he helped me, and he was not ashamed that I was in prison.

On the contrary, when he came here to Rome, he kept searching for me until he found me.

May the Lord be kind to Onesiphorus on the final day. You know all the ways that he helped me in Ephesus.