2Brothers and sisters, you know that our visit to you was not a failure. ²You know what happened earlier in the city of Philippi. We suffered, and people treated us badly there. But God gave us the boldness to tell you his good news. We preached to you even though people opposed us strongly.

³The appeal we make is based on truth. It comes from a pure heart. We are not trying to trick you. ⁴In fact, it is just the opposite. God has accepted us to preach. He has trusted us with the good news. We aren’t trying to please people. We want to please God. He puts our hearts to the test.

⁵As you know, we never praised you if we didn’t mean it. We didn’t put on a mask to cover up any sinful longing. God is our witness that this is true. ⁶We were not expecting people to praise us. We were not looking for praise from you or anyone else.

As Christ’s apostles, we could have caused you some expense. ⁷But we were gentle among you. We were like a mother caring for her little children. ⁸We loved you so much that we were happy to share with you God’s good news. We were also happy to share our lives with you. You had become very special to us.

⁹Brothers and sisters, I am sure you remember how hard we worked. We labored night and day while we preached to you God’s good news. We didn’t want to cause you any expense.

¹⁰You are witnesses of how we lived among you believers. God is also a witness that we were holy and godly and without blame.

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1 Thessalonians 2:4: but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.