James 1:19–27

¹⁹Remember this, my dear brothers and sisters: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and should not get angry easily. ²⁰An angry person doesn’t do what God approves of. ²¹So get rid of all immoral behavior and all the wicked things you do. Humbly accept the word that God has placed in you. This word can save you. 

²²Do what God’s word says. Don’t merely listen to it, or you will fool yourselves. ²³If someone listens to God’s word but doesn’t do what it says, he is like a person who looks at his face in a mirror, ²⁴studies his features, goes away, and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵However, the person who continues to study God’s perfect laws that make people free and who remains committed to them will be blessed. People like that don’t merely listen and forget; they actually do what God’s laws say. 

²⁶If a person thinks that he is religious but can’t control his tongue, he is fooling himself. That person’s religion is worthless. ²⁷Pure, unstained religion, according to God our Father, is to take care of orphans and widows when they suffer and to remain uncorrupted by this world.