Living to Please God

Finally brothers, we ask and encourage you in [the] Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. 2 For you know [the] instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

3 

For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; 4 each of you must know [how] to control his [own] body[fn] in holiness and honor, 5 not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who vvv do not know God; 6 [and] no one should {ever} violate [or] exploit his brother in [this] regard,[fn] because [the] Lord will avenge all such [acts], as we have already told you and solemnly warned [you]. 7 For God {has} not called us to impurity, but to holiness. 8 Anyone, then, who rejects [this command] {does} not reject man but God, the very [One who] gives you His Holy Spirit.

9 

Now about brotherly love, you do not need [anyone] to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. 10 And you are indeed showing this [love] to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more 11 and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own [matters], and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. 12 Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, [without] being dependent [on anyone].

13