James 3:13

Plain English Version

Do you reckon that you can think properly, and do you reckon that you know if something is right or wrong? If you do, you have to show everybody that you think properly by quietly doing good things for other people. If you do those good things, and if you don’t tell anybody about it, you are thinking properly.

Cross References

Matthew 11:29

Be my follower and work for me. Listen to the things I teach you, and you will feel good inside yourselves, like your spirit is resting. You see, I am not a big tough boss. I will be easy on you.

Matthew 5:5

Some people know that they are weak, and they don’t try to be important. But later God will give them everything in the world, and they will be really happy.

Matthew 7:24

Then Jesus told them 2 more picture stories. He said, “If you listen to my message, and if you do what I say, you are like a wise man that built his house on hard rock.

1 Corinthians 6:5

I talk like this so that you will feel shame. I reckon there has to be somebody there in your church that is wise enough to help you sort out these problems between yourselves.

Galatians 5:23

He will stop you from thinking you are too important, and he will help you to control yourself. And there is no law to stop anybody doing any of those good things.

Galatians 6:1

My Christian friends, if you catch one of your own mob doing something bad, the rest of you that listen properly to God’s spirit, you have to get that person to stop. Make sure you talk to that person in a good and easy way. Remember, Satan tries to get you to do bad things too, so be careful.

Galatians 6:4

Each one of you has to think about the things that you do, and see if those things are good, or not good. And if they are good, then you can be happy and feel good about yourself. Don’t look at other people and think, “Am I better than them?”

Ephesians 4:2

Don’t think that you are more important than other people. You have to be good to other people, you have to listen to them and try to understand them. Don’t get angry with each other, but you have to love each other all the time.

Philippians 1:27

Listen, you heard the good news about Jesus Christ, and you trusted him, so keep on living the way he wants you to live, no matter what happens. Maybe I will come and visit you again, but maybe not. Maybe I will only hear what people tell me about you. Anyway, I want to find out that you are staying strong for Jesus, and that God’s spirit is joining you all together, so that you are all agreeing with each other and working together to tell people about Jesus.

Colossians 3:12

You see, God loves you. He picked you to be his own special people. So you have to live a new way for him. You have to be good to other people. You have to feel sorry for people that have trouble and try to help them. Don’t think that you are more important than other people. You have to be easy on other people, and don’t get angry with them, even if they give you trouble.

1 Timothy 4:12

If some people think you are too young to be their leader, don’t worry. You live the right way yourself, and that will show them that you are a good leader. Then they will see the way a Christian has to live. So talk in the right way, and talk about the right things. And do everything the right way. And love people. And believe strongly in Jesus. And always do what is right. Then everyone will see that you live right, and they will not think you are too young.

1 Timothy 6:11

But Timothy, you belong to God. So you’ve got to keep away from all those bad things that I just told you about. Instead, you’ve got to try to do the right thing all the time, and try to do things that make God happy, and try to trust him more, and try to love people better, and try to keep going when things are tough, and try to be easy on other people, not hard on them. Those are the things you have to try to do all the time.

2 Timothy 2:25

If somebody doesn’t agree with the true message, you have to straighten them out, but do it quietly, in an easy way. You know, the devil, the boss over the bad spirits, he tries to trick people. It is like he sets a trap for them. He catches people in his trap, then he makes them do whatever he wants them to do. But if you teach people properly, they can wake up, then God will help them turn around, and he will get them to think straight, and they will understand that true message, and God will get them out of the devil’s trap.

Titus 3:2

And tell them not to say bad things about other people. They have to be happy with each other, and not fight or argue. They have to go easy on other people.

James 1:21

So you have to stop doing all those things that are dirty and wrong. You have to listen properly to the word from God, that he put right inside you, and you have to do what it says. Don’t think that you are so good that you don’t need God’s word. No. You have to do what it says, then that word will save you.

James 2:18

Maybe you reckon, “Some people can believe in Jesus, and other people can do the good things that Jesus says to do.” I answer you like this, “If you don’t do the things that Jesus says, you can’t show me that you believe in him. But whenever I do the good things he tells me to do, I show you that I do believe in him.”

James 3:1

My Christian friends, don’t all of you try to be teachers of God’s word. Only the right people can do that. You see, God will judge us all, and if you teach people something that is wrong, God might punish you a lot. It is like this, all of us make mistakes, and we get trouble from those mistakes. But if we teach people, and if we make a mistake so that we teach them something that is wrong, we will get really big trouble from that. It is hard for us to control our tongues so that we say everything properly. If you can control your tongue, you are properly good, and you can control all of your body.

James 3:17

But whenever we think God’s way, we are like this, – We keep away from doing anything bad. – We want to make other people happy, and we want to help them to be friends with each other. – We are easy on other people, not hard. – We listen to people and let them get a fair go. – We feel sorry for people that have problems, and we do everything we can to help them. – We are fair to everybody. We don’t treat some people good and other people like they are rubbish. – We don’t pretend that we are better than we really are.

1 Peter 1:15

and you have to be properly good and right, just like God. He picked you for himself. So you have to be good, just like him.

1 Peter 2:12

You live in the same place with people that don’t follow Jesus. So you have to make up your mind to always do things that are good. Sometimes people might tell lies and blame you and say you have done wrong. But if you always keep on doing whatever is right, they will see that you do good things. Later, after God comes to judge everybody, they will remember the good things you did, and they will respect him.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are the people God picked out for himself. Together you work for him, like the men that looked after his ceremonies. You are his own family. God called you away from doing bad things, so you can do good things. It is like you used to live in the dark so that nobody could see you do bad things there, but now he called you away from that to live in his good light. So let’s tell everyone that God is really great and really good.