I suspect that many of you, like me, grew up in a family unit with brothers and / or sisters. I was privileged to share family life with an older sister and a twin brother. We were cared for by loving parents, even though there must have been a number of occasions, when we disappointed and grieved them. Have you ever considered what it must be like to grow up alongside a ‘perfect’ brother / sister? You may suggest that such a thing has never happened.

Let me introduce you to JAMES, who wrote a letter in the New Testament that bears his name. He tells us how Christians ought to conduct themselves in order to please God. Undoubtedly, he would have learned a great deal by witnessing what his perfect brother, JESUS, said and did. At the commencement of his letter, he gives three key pieces of advice that it would be wise for all of us to follow:
‘Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath’, James chapter 1 verse 19.

If we acted on these wise words, we would be saved from the many errors of judgment that we are so often guilty of making in lives. James never saw Jesus make an error in what he said and did! Jesus said:
‘He who sent me is true; and I SPEAK to the world those things which I HEARD from Him’, John chapter 8 verse 26.
‘All things that I HEARD from my Father I have made known to you’, John chapter 15 verse 15.
‘The words that I SPEAK to you, I do not SPEAK on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me DOES THE WORKS’, John chapter 14.10.