Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I don't know which I prefer:

I feel torn between the two, because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,

and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of their destruction, but of your salvation -- a sign which is from God.

so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world

Not that I have already attained this -- that is, I have not already been perfected -- but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.

Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example.

who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.