How to Live Righteously?
- Herlize Nel
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
We live in a world filled with words. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has something to say. We speak quickly, react quickly and often become defensive just as quickly when someone challenges what we think.
We make promises. We offer advice. We tell other people what they should do. But sometimes, when it comes to actually doing what we say, there is very little to show for all the talking.
James speaks directly into that reality.
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
These words sound almost like an ancient proverb. They are simple enough to remember, but they carry a much deeper challenge. James is not simply teaching us good communication skills. He is showing us something about what a righteous life actually looks like.
Quick to Listen
There is something unusual about genuinely listening. Most of us are very good at waiting for our turn to speak. We may hear another person, but while they are talking we are already forming our response, defending ourselves or deciding what advice we are going to give them. James asks us to do something different.
Listen first.
People want to be heard. Sometimes they do not immediately need an answer, a solution or an opinion. They simply need another human being to stop long enough to listen. And listening requires humility.
It means accepting that perhaps we do not already understand everything. Perhaps someone else has something to teach us. Perhaps we need to hear before we speak.
Slow to Speak
Our world gives us almost unlimited opportunities to speak. We can comment, post, reply, argue and express an opinion within seconds. But being able to speak does not necessarily mean we should speak immediately. James reminds us that an uncontrolled tongue can cause enormous damage.
Later in his letter, he compares the tongue to a small spark capable of setting an entire forest on fire. A few words can do tremendous harm. An insult. A careless comment. A piece of gossip. Something spoken in anger. Words are small, but their consequences can be enormous.
Righteous living therefore includes learning to ask:
Does this need to be said?
Does it need to be said now?
Will my words build someone up or tear them down?
Slow to Anger
James also tells us to be slow to become angry. That does not mean Christians are never allowed to experience anger. Anger is a normal human emotion. Suppressing every feeling of anger until it eventually explodes is not healthy either.
The problem comes when anger begins to control us. Small, insignificant things can quickly become enormous when we allow anger to take over our thinking. Our judgment becomes clouded. We react instead of responding.
James says plainly:
Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
The story of Cain and Abel gives us a frightening example. Cain becomes angry. That anger grows. Eventually, it leads him to take the life of his brother. The point is not that every angry person becomes violent. The point is that anger, when allowed to rule us, can lead us somewhere we never intended to go.
We cannot live lives rooted in love for God and love for others while allowing anger to become the foundation from which we act.
Removing What Keeps Us From Righteousness
Anger is not the only thing that can prevent us from living righteously. Anything sinful can pull us away from the life God desires for us. James therefore tells us to get rid of the moral filth and evil in our lives. That sounds straightforward. But removing something from our lives often creates an empty space. A habit disappears. A relationship changes. A behaviour stops.
Something we used to turn toward is no longer there. And empty spaces have a way of filling themselves again. The challenge is therefore not simply to remove what is unhealthy. We need to replace it with something better. James tells us to humbly accept the Word planted in us. Our lives need to become rooted in God’s Word. Because God’s Word does more than fill an empty space.
It changes us.
Hearing Is Not Enough
This brings us to one of the central ideas of the passage:
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Christianity cannot simply become information. We can know Bible verses. Attend church. Listen to sermons. Have theological conversations. Tell other people what Scripture teaches. And still allow very little of it to change the way we actually live.
James warns against exactly that kind of faith. Faith like a Pharisees. They knew the law. They taught the law. They were able to tell everyone else how to live. But their treatment of people often failed to reflect the very God they claimed to obey.
They could speak about caring for the vulnerable while distancing themselves from people they considered sinful or unclean. It is possible to know the right things and still fail to live them. So perhaps the familiar phrase “practice what you preach” does not go far enough.
We also need to:
Practice what we hear.
Listen Like You Intend to Obey
When we teach children to listen, we usually mean more than simply hearing the words. If a parent says, “Please put your shoes away,” and the child responds, “Yes, I heard you,” but the shoes remain exactly where they were, we would probably say the child did not really listen. Listening assumes a response. James says the same about our relationship with God. Hearing God’s Word without acting on it is incomplete.
We are called to obey.
And this is the central statement:
Faith that matters, faith that truly makes a difference in people’s lives, must find expression in a life characterised by obedience to the Word of God.
Not occasional obedience.
Not convenient obedience.
But obedience that becomes deeply ingrained in us.
Faith rooted in obedience.
What Happens When We Look in the Mirror?
James gives us a memorable picture. A person who hears God’s Word but does not act on it is like someone who looks into a mirror, walks away and immediately forgets what they look like. Imagine standing in front of a mirror, noticing that your hair is sticking up in every direction and that there is toothpaste on your face, and then simply walking away.
What was the point of looking? The mirror showed you something. But you did nothing with what you saw. God’s Word functions like a mirror. It reveals things about us. It confronts us. It shows us where our lives are out of alignment. It reminds us who we are called to become. But the mirror only becomes useful if we respond to what it reveals.
Christianity Cannot Be “All Talk”
It is easy to announce:
“I am a Christian.”
But the more challenging question is:
Can people see it?
When you come down from the mountain after proclaiming your faith, what does your ordinary life look like? How do you speak to people? How do you respond when someone annoys you? How do you treat people who have nothing to offer you? How do you behave when nobody from church is watching? If faith never becomes visible in our lives, then perhaps we have heard God’s Word without really listening to it.
Faith that matters changes the person who believes it.
We Cannot Pick and Choose the Parts We Like
There is another temptation. We may genuinely want to obey Scripture, but only the parts that fit comfortably into the life we already want to live. We can become very selective. We affirm the verses we like. Ignore the ones that challenge us. Find reasons why certain commands should apply to other people but not to us. James does not give us permission to edit Scripture until it fits our lifestyles.
We should not nitpick the Word of God to fit our lifestyle. Our lifestyle should fit the Word of God.
For Christians today, this means allowing the whole story of Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, to shape us. The law reveals God’s purposes. Jesus shows us how those purposes are fulfilled. When we understand God’s commands in the light of Christ, obedience is not intended to enslave us. It leads us toward freedom.
The Word That Gives Freedom
Sometimes obedience sounds restrictive. Rules. Limitations. Things we are not allowed to do. But James speaks about the perfect law that gives freedom. That sounds almost contradictory. How can law create freedom? Because God’s Word teaches us how to live in the way we were created to live. It helps free us from the destructive patterns that control us.
Anger.
Dishonesty.
Selfishness.
Cruelty.
Addiction.
Pride.
When our lives become oriented around God’s Word, these things no longer need to determine who we become. God’s Word gives us a way to live differently. That is why Scripture is more than simply an ancient collection of stories. It is the living Word of God that continually forms His people.
What Does Righteous Living Look Like Practically?
James does not leave righteousness as an abstract theological idea. He gives practical examples.
1. Watch Your Words
We need to become conscious of the way we speak. Our words can encourage or destroy. They can heal or deepen wounds. They can communicate grace or anger.
Righteous living begins partly by learning when to speak, and when to listen.
2. See the People Around You
James describes pure religion as caring for widows and orphans in their distress. In his world, these were among the most vulnerable people in society. For us, the principle remains. Notice people who are pushed aside. Notice the hungry. The lonely. The struggling student. The person who feels unwelcome. The person everyone else has learned not to see.
Faith that matters refuses to remain blind to the needs of others.
3. Deal Seriously With Sin
Righteous living also requires us to examine ourselves. What are we allowing into our lives? Who is influencing us? Which behaviours consistently lead us away from God? What keeps triggering the same anger, bitterness or sinful patterns? James encourages us not merely to recognise these things but to remove them. To inspect our lives and make changes where necessary.
Faith That Matters
Ultimately, James asks us to move from words to action. From hearing to doing. From knowing to obeying. The Christian life is not about becoming people who can simply speak convincingly about God. It is about becoming people whose lives increasingly reflect Him.
People who listen.
People who control their words.
People who refuse to let anger govern them.
People who care for those society overlooks.
People who confront sin in themselves before obsessing over the failures of everyone else.
People whose lifestyles are shaped by Scripture.
Because faith that matters must eventually become visible.
It must move from our ears into our hearts. From our hearts into our hands. And from our beliefs into the way we actually live. So perhaps the question James leaves us with is simple:
Have I only heard the Word of God, or am I doing what it says?
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