2 My friends, think of it as a reason to be supremely happy even when all kinds of troubles come your way, 3 because you know that endurance comes from dealing with challenges to your trust in God. 4 Let your endurance become as strong as possible, so that you will be completely mature, without any shortcomings.
22 But do what the word says—don’t just listen to it and delude yourselves. 23 If you just listen to the word, and don’t act on it, it’s like staring at your own face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, but then you leave, and immediately forget what you looked like. 25 But if you look to the perfect law of freedom and follow it, not as someone who just listens and then forgets, but as someone who acts on it—then you will be blessed in what you do.