Learn From Jesus' Younger Brother

James,  a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." - JAMES 1:1.

JAMES, the brother of  Jesus, was raised in a spiritually strong family.  His parents Joseph and Mary, loved Jehovah very much and did their best to serve Him. James had an added blessing -his older brother would grow up to be the promised Messiah. What a fine privilet James had to be part of that family!

James had many reasons to look up to his older brother.  (Matthew 13:55) For example,  Jesus knew the Scriptures so well that by the age of 12, he amazed the well-educated elders in Jerusalme.  (Luke 2:46, 47)  James may have worked in the carpentry trade with Jesus. In that case, he would come to know his brother very well.  Nathan H. Knorr often said: "You learn a lot about a  person when you work with him. James could also not help; but notice how "Jesus went on progressing  in wisdom and in physical growth and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52) So we might assume that James  would have been among the first to became a disciple of Jesus.  But that is not what happened. 

During  Jesus' ministry on earth, James did not become one of his disciples. (John 7:3-5) In fact, James may have become one of the relatives   who thought that Jesus  had "gone out of his mind." (Mark 3:21)And there is no indication that James was with their mother, Mary, when Jesus was put to death on the torture stake. - John 19:25-27.

Later, James put faith in Jesus and became a respected member of the Christian congregation.  In this article, we will consider two lessons that we can learn from James:  (1) why we must remain humble and (2) how we can become effective teachers.

Next time: Learn From Jesus' Young Brother - REMAIN HUMBLE LIKE JAMES

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