James 1:19-25

International Children’s Bible

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.