My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be
quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for
man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God
desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil
that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in
you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not
do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a
mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and
immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who
looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and
continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but
doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a
tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his
religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts
as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and
widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world.