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Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
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If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
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For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
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but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
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Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
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Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.
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Listening and Doing
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
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because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
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Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
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But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
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Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
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Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
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If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.
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But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
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For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
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For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
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Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
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Faith and Deeds
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
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In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
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But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
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You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
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You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
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As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
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Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.
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but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
