11. As the sun rises and gets hotter, its heat dries up the plants, and the flowers fall off. The flowers that were so beautiful are now dead. That’s how it is with the rich. While they are still making plans for their business, they will die.
12. Great blessings belong to those who are tempted and remain faithful! After they have proved their faith, God will give them the reward of eternal life. God promised this to all people who love him.
13. Whenever you feel tempted to do something bad, you should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone.
14. You are tempted by the evil things you want. Your own desire leads you away and traps you.
15. Your desire grows inside you until it results in sin. Then the sin grows bigger and bigger and finally ends in death.
16. My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be fooled about this.
17. Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same.
18. God decided to give us life through the true message he sent to us. He wanted us to be the most important of all that he created.
19. My dear brothers and sisters, always be more willing to listen than to speak. Keep control of your anger.
20. Anger does not help you live the way God wants.
21. So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you.
22. Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves.
23. Hearing God’s teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror
24. and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked.