Only Jesus is Faultless

 Who is absolutely faultless? Only Jesus.

We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. Jas 3:2 NIV

Who has never spoken a wrong word? Only Jesus.
Who wrote this truth in the Bible? James, the half-brother of Jesus, a son of Mary and Joseph. He knew that he was a flawed human being. He was not a believer before Jesus' resurrection.

Sometime after the resurrection of his half-brother, he turned back and became a disciple. He then became the church leader of the new church in Jerusalem.

God gave him the privilege of writing a book in the New Testament, not because of his natural kinship with Jesus, but because God called and chose him to do so.

James became a man of outstanding character. When such a man says that we all often make mistakes, that Peter, John and he himself also often made mistakes, then we never have to pretend to always be right as a father, mother, pastor or manager.

As a parent, church leader or manager, we never have to expect flawless perfection.
If I am flawed, then my children are flawed.
If I am flawed as a preacher, then my listeners are also flawed.

Should I accept my mistakes lightly? Should I ignore or gloss over my sins? No.
But fanatical perfectionism is also a trap.

I know a young Christian woman who is wonderfully gifted. She wrote an excellent textbook on spiritual gifts, but she didn't want to publish the book because it wasn't completely flawless in her eyes.

If we think like that, we will only read the Bible, and maybe not even the Bible, because there is no perfect translation.

I know a manager who always criticised his employees very harshly. Once he held a staff meeting and criticised himself for not finishing the meeting on time. He was two minutes late.

There are young teachers who cannot exercise authority because they only think about their own mistakes.

There are managers and preachers who always look down on their subordinates or listeners and always act as if they are always right. That is cruel and ridiculous.

There are churches where everything is tolerated. Where sin is not taken seriously, can you find God's blessing?  

But there are also churches where perfectionism has led to cruel legalism.

Holiness is essential, but if you are not allowed to make mistakes, the love of God is blocked and suffocated.