Scripture Readings

Thursday, January 3, 2013

James 1:19-27 (Epistle)

19
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20
for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24
for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
27
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.