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.
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.