12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed —not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence —continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,

15 so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation." "Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.