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.
25. But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard.
26. You might think you are a very religious person. But if your tongue is out of control, you are fooling yourself. Your careless talk makes your offerings to God worthless.