Twentieth_Century(i)
3 Share hardships with me, as a true soldier of Christ Jesus.
4 A soldier on active service, to please his superior officer, always avoids entangling himself in the affairs of ordinary life.
5 No athlete is ever awarded the wreath of victory unless he has kept the rules.
6 The labourer who does the work should be the first to receive a share of the fruits of the earth.
7 Reflect upon what I say; the Lord will always help you to understand.
8 Keep before your mind Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David, as told in the Good News entrusted to me;
9 in the service of which I am suffering hardships, even to being put in fetters as a criminal. But the Message of God is not fettered;
10 and that is why I submit to anything for the sake of God's People, that they also may obtain the Salvation which comes from union with Christ Jesus, and imperishable glory.
11 How true this saying is-- 'If we have shared his death, we shall also share his life.
12 If we continue to endure, we shall also share his throne. If we should ever disown him, he, too, will disown us.