17 The fact is that God makes every one of us who trusts in Christ to be completely different than we were before. Our old way of conducting our lives is gone. We now have a completely new way of conducting our lives.

10 O God, cause my inner being to be pure.

Put new thoughts within me and make me faithful again.

11 Do not send me away from you because of my sin,

and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Cause/Allow me to be happy again because of knowing that you have freed me from the guilt of my sin,

and make me willing to obey you.

1 My fellow believers, since God has acted mercifully toward you in so many ways, I appeal to all of you that you present yourselves [SYN] to him by making yourselves like holy sacrifices [MET]. Make yourselves sacrifices that he is pleased with, sacrifices that are living/alive, not ones that are dead/killed. Since God has done so much for you/us, this is the only appropriate way to serve him. 2 Do not let anything non-Christian determine how you should act. Instead, let God change your way of life by making your way of thinking new, in order that you may know what he wants you to do. That is, you will know what is good, and you will know what pleases God, and you will know how to be all that he wants you to be.

20 It is as though I was with Christ when he was crucified {died on the cross} [MET] (OR, It is as though my old way of life ended when Christ died on the cross.) No longer am I directing the way I behave as I did before I believed in Christ. Now Christ is directing how I behave. And whatever I do now while I live, I do it trusting in God’s Son. He is the one who loved me and offered himself as a sacrifice for me.

9 But God will do what he says that he will do, and what he does is always right. So, if we confess to him that we have behaved sinfully, he will forgive us for our sins and ◄will free us from/remove► the guilt of all our sins. Because of that, we should confess to him that we have behaved sinfully.

11 I, Yahweh, know what I have planned for you. I am planning to cause things to go well for you, not to cause you to experience disasters. I am planning to give you many things that you confidently expect to receive in the future.

6 Do not worry about anything. Instead, in every situation, pray to God, tell him what you need, and ask him to help you [DOU]. Also thank him for what he does for you. 7 As a result, God will enable you not to worry about anything [MTY] (OR, God will protect your minds in every way) [PRS]. That is, he will cause you to have inner peace because you have a relationship with Christ Jesus. You will not be able to understand [PRS] how you can be so peaceful in such difficult circumstances!!

15 ◄Do your best/Try hard► to be the kind of person that God will approve of. Be like a good worker as you teach the true message accurately. If a worker works well, he will not need to be ashamed of (OR, will be pleased about) what he does.

6 Be brave and confident. Do not be afraid of those people. Do not forget that it is Yahweh our God who will go with you. He will always help [LIT] you and never abandon you."

13 "You are able to influence evil people [MTY] and improve the way they live in order that they do not become more evil, just like salt is able to improve the flavor of food and to preserve it [MET] from spoiling. Salt that no longer tastes salty cannot become salty again [RHQ]. As a result, that salt becomes useless. It is rejected by people, thrown on the ground, and walked on {People reject it, throw it on the ground and walk on it} [MET]. Similarly, if the way you live no longer influences people to live in a godly manner, God will reject you.

29 Do not use [MTY] foul language. Instead, say only things that are useful for helping people when they need help, things that will help spiritually the people that you talk to.

16 So, because we know that as a result of our suffering many people will honor God, we (exc) never get so discouraged that we stop teaching his message. Although our bodies are getting weaker, God encourages us every day and strengthens us spiritually. 17 I know that all these troubles that happen to us in this life are not significant and will not last forever. When we think of the glorious things that God is preparing for us to enjoy forever in heaven, all our suffering now is not important. 18 That is why we say, "We will not continue thinking about all the suffering that we are experiencing now. Even though we cannot see all the things that God has prepared for us in heaven, those are what we should be thinking about." That is how we should think, because all these troubles that we(exc) have now will last only a short time. But what we will have in heaven, what we cannot see now, will last forever.