22 (A)But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [a]natural face (B)in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [b]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, (C)the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [c]an active doer, this person will be (D)blessed in [d]what he does.

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Footnotes

  1. James 1:23 Lit the face of his birth; or nature
  2. James 1:24 Lit and he
  3. James 1:25 Lit a doer of a work
  4. James 1:25 Lit his doing

22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

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