James 1

₁I am James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing this letter to the 12 tribes_of_Israel who live in many parts of the world. I greet you.

₂My friends, you must be very happy when different kinds of bad things happen to you. ₃You must know that God is testing your faith, and when you suffer like this, you learn to be patient and to keep on believing. ₄You must keep on believing so that you can suffer through all things, and do completely what God wants. Then you will be as God wants you to be.

₅If any one of you wants wisdom, then you must ask God to give you wisdom and He will give it to you. God wants to give us good things in a way that shows his love and care. ₆When people pray, they must believe that God will give them what they ask for, and they must not doubt. A person who doubts is like the waves of the sea that is blown up and down. ₇A person who doubts must not think that God will give him something. ₈Someone who doubts does not know what to decide. He never knows what he must do, because he is not sure.

₉A believer who is unimportant and poor must be happy because the Lord thinks he is important. ₁₀But a believer who is rich must be glad that God does not think he is important, because all of his money and things can disappear like a wild flower that disappears. ₁₁When the sun starts to shine and the day gets hot, the wild flowers die and fall off. The beautiful flowers are dead. It is the same with a rich man and the things that he has. They will disappear like a flower.

₁₂God will bless a person when he keeps on believing, even when bad things happen to him that test his faith, to see if he will do something wrong. If he keeps on believing, God will be good to him and give him eternal_life. God has promised this life to all who love Him.

₁₃When you are tempted to do things that are wrong, you must not say: ‘It is God who wants me to do bad things,’ because no one can tell God to do things that are wrong and He does not want people to do things that are wrong. ₁₄Anyone who does things that are wrong does them because he desires to do them. ₁₅When someone desires to do things that are wrong, then he sins. Sin that becomes bigger and bigger brings death.

₁₆My friends, I love you. Please do not be fools. ₁₇Everything that is good, and every good gift you get, comes from the Father in heaven who made the stars in the sky. The Father does not change. He is like a light that always shines. ₁₈God chose to give us life. That is why He sent the true message to us. He wanted to make us the first and the most important of all His creatures.

₁₉My friends, I love you. You must remember: Everyone must always be ready to listen to the message of God, he must first think before he speaks and he must be slow to get angry. ₂₀Because when a person gets angry, he does not do the things that God wants. ₂₁So, stop doing bad things and stop saying things that are not good. You must be humble and listen to the Good_News that God gave you in your hearts. This is the message that can save you.

₂₂You must do what the Word of God says. You must not only listen to his message, but you must also do it. If you don't do what God says, then you are deceiving yourselves. ₂₃Because when someone only listens to the message of God but does not do what God says, he is like a man who looks in a mirror and sees his face. ₂₄When he stops looking in the mirror and goes away, he immediately forgets what he looks like. ₂₅But you must keep on looking into the laws of God, that are right and make us free. You must listen to what God says in the laws and do what they say. Then God will bless you in everything that you do. ₂₆If anyone thinks that he serves God but he does not think before he speaks, then he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. ₂₇The right way that God the Father wants us to serve Him is to care for children who do not have parents and to help widows who are suffering. And you must keep away from sin and all the things that are wrong in the world.