2 Corinthians 12

₁It does not help to boast, but sometimes it is good to boast a little bit. Sometimes the Lord shows things to people that no other person has seen. ₂I know a man who belongs to Christ. God took this man to the highest heaven 14 years ago. I do not know if it was this man's body or just his spirit that went to heaven. Only God knows that. _3-4I will say it again. I know that God has taken this man to Paradise. I do not know if it was the man's body or just his spirit that went there. Only God knows that. In Paradise this man heard wonderful things, so wonderful that no one can talk about them.

₅I will boast about this man, but I will not boast about myself. I will only boast and say that I am weak. ₆If I decide to boast, I will not be a fool, because I will speak the truth. But I have decided not to boast because I do not want people to think I am better than I was when they saw me or heard me talking.

₇I have seen these wonderful things in heaven that God has shown me, but God did not want me to become proud and start thinking that I am better than other believers. That is why God gave me a problem in my life to keep me humble. It is like a thorn, like an angel_of_Satan that comes to me and beats me with his fist.

₈I have asked the Lord many times to take this pain away. ₉But the Lord said to me: ‘I have given you my grace and that is enough, because when someone knows that he is weak, then my power in his life becomes more.’ Therefore I will boast and say I am weak, because then the power of Christ works through me. ₁₀That is why I am happy when I am weak, when people say bad things to me, when I suffer, when people do bad things to me and when I have problems. Because I know that all these things happen to me because I belong to Christ. Yes, I am happy because when I am weak, then I am strong.

₁₁When I boasted, I spoke like a fool, but it was you who made me do it. Because you are the people who should have believed me, but you did not. Some of those false_apostles think that they are better than I am and they say that I am useless, but I am as good as they are. ₁₂I did lots of things when I was with you that show I am a true apostle. I did signs and miracles and other things that show how strong God is. ₁₃I did the same in Corinth as I have done in the other congregations. But I did not ask you for money for myself. If this was wrong, then I ask you to forgive me.

₁₄This is the 3rd time that I will come to you. I will not ask you for money for myself. I do not want your money. I want to have you. You know what it is like in life. It is not the little children who have to save money and care for their parents. No, it is the parents who have to save money for their children. ₁₅I would love to give you everything that I have. I will also give myself to you so that I can help you. I love you so much, and you must also love me a lot.

₁₆Yes, I did not ask you for money to care for myself. Maybe there are some of you who say I am cunning and that I did other things to deceive you. ₁₇Did I deceive you when I sent one of our workers to you? No. ₁₈Remember, I asked Titus to come to you. I also sent someone else, who works with us. You know that Titus did not deceive you and I think in the same way as Titus thinks. I do the same things that he does.

₁₉Maybe you think that we were trying to show you that we didn't do anything wrong, so that you can think we are good. No, we belong to Christ, and we know that God listens to everything that we say. That is why we say all these things. We do all of it because we love you and we want to make your faith stronger. ₂₀I am afraid that when I come to you, you will not be like I want you to be. And maybe I am not like you want me to be. Maybe you hate other people or you argue with everyone. Maybe you make people angry with one another or you make them enemies of one another. Maybe you say bad things to each other, and maybe you tell stories of one another that are not_true. Maybe you think you are better than other people, or you do not listen to rules and you make problems. ₂₁I am afraid that God will humiliate me and make me ashamed when I come to you. Because I think I will cry and mourn for many people in the congregation who have sinned and have not turned their lives to God to live as He wants. I am afraid that they are still doing the bad things that they have always done, or that they have sex with people that they are not married to. I am afraid that they live impurely and they do anything that they want to do.