James 1-2

International Children’s Bible

Faith and Wisdom

1 From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To all of God’s people who are scattered everywhere in the world:

Greetings.

² My brothers, you will have many kinds of troubles. But when these things happen, you should be very happy. ³ You know that these things are testing your faith. And this will give you patience. ⁴ Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete. You will have everything you need. ⁵ But if any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it. God is generous. He enjoys giving to all people, so God will give you wisdom. ⁶ But when you ask God, you must believe. Do not doubt God. Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea. The wind blows the wave up and down. ^7-8 He who doubts is thinking two different things at the same time. He cannot decide about anything he does. A person like that should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.

True Riches

⁹ If a believer is poor, he should take pride that God has made him spiritually rich. ¹⁰ If he is rich, he should take pride that God has shown him that he is spiritually poor. The rich person will die like a wild flower in the grass. ¹¹ The sun rises and becomes hotter and hotter. The heat makes the plants very dry, and the flower falls off. The flower was beautiful, but now it is dead. It is the same with a rich person. While he is still taking care of his business, he will die.

Temptation Is Not from God

¹² When a person is tempted and still continues strong, he should be happy. After he has proved his faith, God will reward him with life forever. God promised this to all people who love him. ¹³ When someone is being tempted, he should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁴ It is the evil that a person wants that tempts him. His own evil desire leads him away and holds him. ¹⁵ This desire causes sin. Then the sin grows and brings death.

¹⁶ My dear brothers, do not be fooled about this. ¹⁷ Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars. God does not change like their shifting shadows. ¹⁸ God decided to give us life through the word of truth. He wanted us to be the most important of all the things he made.

Listening and Obeying

¹⁹ My dear brothers, always be willing to listen and slow to speak. Do not become angry easily. ²⁰ Anger will not help you live a good life as God wants. ²¹ So put out of your life every evil thing and every kind of wrong you do. Don’t be proud but accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save your souls.

²² Do what God’s teaching says; do not just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. ²³ A person who hears God’s teaching and does nothing is like a man looking in a mirror. ²⁴ He sees his face, then goes away and quickly forgets what he looked like. ²⁵ But the truly happy person is the one who carefully studies God’s perfect law that makes people free. He continues to study it. He listens to God’s teaching and does not forget what he heard. Then he obeys what God’s teaching says. When he does this, it makes him happy.

The True Way to Worship God

²⁶ A person might think he is religious. But if he says things he should not say, then he is just fooling himself. His “religion” is worth nothing. ²⁷ Religion that God the Father accepts is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help; and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence. This is the kind of religion that God accepts as pure and good.

Love All People

2 My dear brothers, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So never think that some people are more important than others. ² Suppose someone comes into your church meeting wearing very nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor man comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. ³ You show special attention to the one wearing nice clothes. You say, “Please, sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor by my feet!” ⁴ What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others. With evil thoughts you are deciding which person is better.

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith. He chose them to receive the kingdom God promised to people who love him. ⁶ But you show no respect to the poor man. And you know that it is the rich who are always trying to control your lives. And they are the ones who take you to court. ⁷ They are the ones who say bad things against Jesus, who owns you.

⁸ One law rules over all other laws. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”^[a] If you obey this law, then you are doing right. ⁹ But if you are treating one person as if he were more important than another, then you are sinning. That royal law proves that you are guilty of breaking God’s law. ¹⁰ A person might follow all of God’s law. But if he fails to obey even one command, he is guilty of breaking all the commands in that law. ¹¹ God said, “You must not be guilty of adultery.”^[b] The same God also said, “You must not murder anyone.”^[c] So if you do not take part in adultery, but you murder someone, then you are guilty of breaking all of God’s law. ¹² You will be judged by the law that makes people free. You should remember this in everything you say and do. ¹³ Yes, you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear when he is judged.

Faith and Good Works

¹⁴ My brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does nothing, his faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save him? ¹⁵ A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or might need food. ¹⁶ And you say to him, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat.” You say this, but you do not give that person the things he needs. Unless you help him, your words are worth nothing. ¹⁷ It is the same with faith. If faith does nothing, then that faith is dead, because it is alone.

¹⁸ Someone might say, “You have faith, but I do things. Show me your faith! Your faith does nothing. I will show you my faith by the things I do.” ¹⁹ You believe there is one God. Good! But the demons believe that, too! And they shake with fear.

²⁰ You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing? ²¹ Abraham is our father. He was made right with God by the things he did. He offered his son Isaac to God on the altar. ²² So you see that Abraham’s faith and the things he did worked together. His faith was made perfect by what he did. ²³ This shows the full meaning of the Scripture that says: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”^[d] And Abraham was called “God’s friend.”^{[e] 24} So you see that a person is made right with God by the things he does. He cannot be made right by faith only.

²⁵ Another example is Rahab, who was a prostitute. But she was made right with God by something she did: She helped the spies for God’s people. She welcomed them into her home and helped them escape by a different road.

²⁶ A person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead. It is the same with faith. Faith that does nothing is dead!