Look at what is in front of you:
If anyone has confidence
in themselves
to be (especially) Christ’s
Let them reckon again
– For themselves, that
as they themselves are Christ’s
So also are we.
For even if I boast too much
About our authority
which the Lord gave
-For building up
-And not for your tearing down
I will not be ashamed.
I don’t want appear to frighten you
Through my letters
For on the one hand
(my) letters
– someone will say
Are weighty and strong
But on the other hand
– (my) bodily presence is weak
And (my) speech amounts to nothing.
Let such a person reckon this:
What we are in word in letters in absence
Such a person (we will be) in works, present.
Take from us,
O God, all pride and vanity,
all boasting and self-assertion,
and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness,
the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity,
and the true power that shows itself in modesty.
Charles Kingsley