2 Corinthians 2

₁Yes, I decided that I would not come to you because I did not want to make you sad. ₂Because if I make you feel sad, who will then make me happy? No one. It is only you who can make me happy, but you can not do it if I make you sad. ₃That is why I wrote that letter to you telling you about the things that were wrong. I did it so that I would not feel bad when I came to you. Remember, you are the people who must make me happy and I am sure you all want to be happy with me. ₄When I wrote you that letter, I was very worried and very sad. I cried a lot while I wrote it. But I did not write it to make you feel bad. No, I wanted you to know that I love you.

₅The person who caused trouble in your congregation did not_really make me sad, but he made you sad. No, it is better to say he made almost everyone sad. ₆Most of the people in the congregation were angry at him and I think he has had enough punishment now. ₇It will be better if you forgive him and encourage him so that the punishment and sadness will not be too much for him. ₈I am asking you to show him that you love him.

₉I also wrote you a letter because I wanted to know how your faith is and if you are doing everything that I taught you. ₁₀If you forgive someone who has done something wrong, then I will also forgive him. It is not so important that I had to forgive that person, but I did it to teach you what Christ wants us to do. ₁₁Remember, we must not let the devil use us for his own plans. We know what his plans are. He always wants us to sin and do bad things.

₁₂When I was in the town of Troas the Lord helped me and I could preach the Good_News of Christ to a lot of people. ₁₃But I was very worried because I did not find Titus, my friend, who works with me for the Lord. So I greeted and left the people of Troas and went to the province of Macedonia.

₁₄We must thank God who always shows everyone that we belong to Christ the King, who has defeated his enemies. God uses us to tell people everywhere about Christ and to help them know Him. It is like the smell of perfume that keeps going further and further. ₁₅God saves some people and some people will be lost. When we preach the message of Christ, Christ uses us like a burnt-offering to God, and the smell goes to those people. ₁₆The message smells very bad to people who are lost. To them it smells like something that is dead. But the message smells very good to God's people, because God saves them and this message brings life. Yes, it is very difficult for anyone to preach the message of God to people. ₁₇Because we are not like many other people who preach the message of God to get rich. No, when we preach, we are honest because God has sent us and Christ is looking at what we are doing.