settle differences in a spirit of love

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34567MAY 201

S I M P L I F I E D E D I T I O N

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JUNE 27–JULY 31, 2016


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 WEEK OF JUNE 27–JULY 3Settle Differences in a Spirit of Love

Because we are imperfect, sometimes we may have

disagreements with our brothers and sisters. In this

article, we will learn Bible principles that can help us

to solve disagreements and keep peace with others.

9 WEEK OF JULY 4- 10“Go, . . . and Make Disciples

of People of All the Nations”

This article will help us to understand why we

say that Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only people

on earth today who are fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy

at Matthew 24:14. We will also learn what it means

to be “fishers of men.”—Matthew 4:19.

15 WEEK OF JULY 11 -17How Do You Make Personal Decisions?

When you are making a decision, do you simply

do what you think is right? Or do you ask others

what you should do? This article explains why we

will make the best decisions when we consider

how Jehovah God thinks.

21 WEEK OF JULY 18-24Is the Bible Still Changing Your Life?

You may have made big changes before you were

baptized. But do you feel that it is now harder to

make smaller changes in order to imitate Jehovah

and Jesus better? This article explains why it can

be so difficult to make these changes and how the

Bible can help us.

27 WEEK OF JULY 25 -31Benefit Fully From Jehovah’sProvisions

In this article, we will discuss a danger that we

must avoid, and we will learn how we can benefit

from all the provisions that Jehovah gives us.


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HAVE you ever thought about the personal conflictsfound in the Bible? In just the first few chapters of Gene-sis, we learn that Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4:3-8); La-mech killed a young man for hitting him (Genesis 4:23);Abraham’s shepherds argued with Lot’s shepherds (Gen-esis 13:5-7); Hagar felt superior to Sarah, and Sarah be-came upset with Abraham (Genesis 16:3-6); Ishmael wasagainst everyone, and everyone was against him.—Gene-sis 16:12.

2 Why were such conflicts mentioned in the Bible? Be-cause we can learn from these examples of imperfect peo-ple who had real problems. We too are imperfect, andwhen we have similar problems in our life, we can imitatethe good examples found in the Bible and avoid imitating

the bad ones. (Romans 15:4) This can help us learn howto keep peace with others.

3 In this article, we will learn why we need to settle dif-ferences, or solve disagreements, and how we can do

1, 2. What human struggles are featured in Genesis, and why is this ofinterest?

3. What topics will this article cover?

Settle Differences in a Spirit of Love“Keep peace with one another.” —MARK 9:50.

SONGS: 39, 77

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?

What counsel did Jesus give

to help us handle differences

in a spirit of love?

What questions might a

Christian ask himself when

deciding how to settle

differences with others?

How can the three steps

outlined at Matthew 18:15-17

be used to resolve some

conflicts?


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4 SIMPLIFIED EDITION

that. We will also learn some basic Bi-ble principles that can help us to solveproblems and keep a good relationshipwith Jehovah and with others.

WHY GOD’S SERVANTS

NEED TO SETTLE DIFFERENCES

4 Satan is the main reason why peo-ple are divided and have so manydifferences. Why do we say that? InEden, Satan said that everyone canand should decide for himself what isgood and what is bad independent of

God. (Genesis 3:1-5) But when we lookat the world today, we can see thatsuch an attitude only brings problems.

Many people feel that they have theright to decide for themselves what isgood and bad. They are proud, selfish,and competitive, and they do not careif their decisions hurt others. Such anattitude leads to conflicts. The Bible re-minds us that if we are quick to get an-gry, we will have many disagreementswith others and we will commit many

sins.—Proverbs 29:22.5 When Jesus gave the Sermon on

the Mount, he taught his disciples

4. What attitude spread throughout the world,and what has been the result?

5. How did Jesus teach people to handle dis-agreements?

to make peace and prevent disagree-ments, even if it did not seem to be intheir best interests to do so. For exam-ple, he told them to be kind, to makepeace with others, to get rid of feel-

ings such as anger, to solve disagree-ments quickly, and to love their ene-mies.—Matthew 5:5, 9, 22, 25, 44.

6 Today, we worship Jehovah whenwe pray, preach, and go to our meet-ings. If we do not make peace with ourbrothers, Jehovah will not accept ourworship to him. (Mark 11:25) In orderto be Jehovah’s friends, we must for-

give others when they make mistakes.—Read Luke 11:4; Ephesians 4:32.

7 Jehovah expects all of his servantsto be forgiving and to have a peacefulrelationship with others. We can askourselves: ‘Am I quick to forgive mybrothers? Do I enjoy being with them?’If you realize that you need to be moreforgiving, pray to Jehovah and ask him

to help you improve. Our heavenly Fa-ther will hear such humble prayers andanswer them.—1 John 5:14, 15.

CAN YOU IGNORE AN OFFENSE?

8 We are all imperfect, so we can ex-pect people to say or do things thatmay offend us. (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Mat-thew 18:7) How will you react? We canlearn an important lesson from the fol-lowing experience: A sister greeted twobrothers at a gathering. But one of thebrothers was offended by the way she

6, 7. (a) Why is it important to settle person-al differences promptly? (b) What questionsshould all of Jehovah’s people ask themselves?

8, 9. What should we do if we are offended?

Are you quickto forgive

your brothers?


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MAY 2016

greeted him. When the two brotherswere alone, the offended brother start-ed to complain about the sister. How-ever, the other brother reminded himthat the sister had loyally served Jeho-

vah for 40 years despite many difficul-ties. He was sure that the sister didnot mean to offend him. How did thefirst brother react? He said, “You areright.” He then chose to forget aboutwhat had happened.

9 What does this experience teachus? When someone offends us, we canchoose how we react. A loving person

is forgiving. (Read Proverbs 10:12;1 Peter 4:8.) When we “overlook anoffense,” this is something beautiful toJehovah. (Proverbs 19:11; Ecclesiastes7:9) So the next time someone says ordoes something that offends you, askyourself: ‘Can I ignore this offense? DoI really need to keep thinking aboutthis?’

10 When others say something nega-tive about us, it may be difficult to ig-nore their words. Consider what hap-pened to a pioneer sister we will callLucy. Some in the congregation madenegative comments about the qualityof her ministryand her use of time. Shewas very hurt and asked some maturebrothers for advice. What was the re-

sult? She says that they used the Bi-ble to help her stop thinking too muchabout the negative opinions of othersand start thinking more about Jeho-

10. (a) How did one sister at first react to criti-cism? (b) What Scriptural thought helped thissister to maintain her peace?

vah. She was encouraged when sheread Matthew 6:1-4. (Read.) Thoseverses reminded her that making Jeho-vah happy is what is most important.So she chose to overlook the negative

comments. Now, even if others makenegative comments about her minis-try, she is happy because she knowsthat she is trying her best to please Je-hovah.

WHEN YOU CANNOT

IGNORE AN OFFENSE

11 “We all stumble many times.”(James 3:2) Suppose you learn that abrother was offended by somethingyou said or did. What should youdo? Jesus said that if “you are bring-ing your gift to the altar and there

you remember that your brother hassomething against you, leave your giftthere in front of the altar, and goaway. First make your peace with yourbrother, and then come back and offeryour gift.” (Matthew 5:23, 24) So talk

with your brother. When you do, yourgoal should be to make peace withhim. You should admit your fault and

11, 12. (a) How should a Christian act if he be-lieves that his brother “has something against”him? (b) What can we learn from the way Abra-ham dealt with a dispute? (See opening pic-ture.)

Our goal should beto make peace with

our brothers


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It may be necessaryto talk with yourbrother more than

once in order tomake peace

(See paragraph 15)


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not try to blame him. Peace with ourbrothers is the most important thing.

12 The Bible shows how God’s ser-vants can keep peace when there aredisagreements. For example, Abraham

and his nephew Lot both owned manyanimals, and their shepherds began toargue because there was not enoughland for all of them. Because Abra-ham wanted peace, he allowed Lot tochoose the best land. (Genesis 13:1,2, 5-9) What a good example for us!Did Abraham suffer permanent loss be-cause of his generosity? Not at all. Im-

mediately after this, Jehovah prom-ised to bless Abraham with much morethan he lost. (Genesis 13:14-17) Whatdo we learn? Even if we suffer someloss, Jehovah will bless us when wesolve our disagreements with love.[1]

—See endnote.13 Consider a modern example. The

new overseer of a convention depart-

ment called a brother to ask if hewould be able to work in that depart-ment. The brother said several unkindthings and hung up the phone becausehe was still angry with the previousoverseer of the department. The newoverseer did not get offended, but hecould not ignore what had happened.After an hour, he called the brother

again and suggested that they meet.The next week, the brothers met at theKingdom Hall, and after praying to Je-hovah, they talked for an hour. Thebrother explained what had happened

13. How did one overseer react to harsh words,and what can we learn from his example?

with the previous overseer. The newoverseer listened kindly and discussedsome helpful scriptures. As a result,the brothers made peace and workedtogether at the convention. The broth-

er is grateful that the overseer spoke tohim in a kind and gentle way.

SHOULD YOU INVOLVE THE ELDERS?

14 Most problems between two Chris-tians can and should be solved pri-vately. However, sometimes this isnot possible. Some situations may re-quire help from others according

to Matthew 18:15-17. (Read.) The“sin” Jesus mentioned there was nota small disagreement between Chris-tians. How do we know? Jesus saidthat if the sinner refused to repent af-ter talking to his brother, to witness-es, and to responsible brothers, heshould be treated “just as a man of the nations and as a tax collector.”

Today, this means that he should bedisfellowshipped. The “sin” could in-clude things such as fraud or slander,but it would not include sins such asadultery, homosexuality, apostasy, oridolatry. These types of sins definitelyneed to be handled by the elders.

15 Jesus’ goal in giving this counselwas to show us how to help a brother

because we love him. (Matthew 18:12-14) How can we follow this counsel?(1) We should try to make peace withour brother without involving others.

14, 15. (a) When should we apply the counselat Matthew 18:15-17? (b) What three steps didJesus mention, and what should be our goal inapplying them?

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We may need to talk with him severaltimes. But what should we do if there isstill no peace? (2) We should talk toour brother with someone who knowsthe situation or who can see whether

something wrong has been done. If the problem gets solved, you will have“gained your brother.” But only whenyou have talked to your brother sever-al times and you cannot make peacewith him should you (3) report theproblem to the elders.

16 In most cases, it is not necessary touse all three steps found at Matthew

18:15-17. That is encouraging. Why dowe say so? Because in most cases, thesinner recognizes his mistake and fixesthe problem, so that there is no needfor him to be disfellowshipped. The of-fended person should then forgive hisbrother in order to have peace. So it isclear from Jesus’ counsel that we donot need to go to the elders too soon.

We should report the matter only afterwe have followed the first two steps

16. What shows that following Jesus’ counsel ispractical and loving?

and if there is real proof that some-thing wrong has been done.

17 As long as we are imperfect, we willcontinue to offend others. The disci-ple James wrote: “If anyone does not

stumble in word, he is a perfect man,able to bridle also his whole body.”(James 3:2) To solve disagreements,we need to do our best to “seek peaceand pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14) When wecontinue to make peace with others,we will have good friendships with ourbrothers and sisters, and this will keepus united. (Psalm 133:1-3) Most impor-

tant, we will have a close friendshipwith Jehovah, “the God who givespeace.” (Romans 15:33) We will enjoyall these blessings when we settle dif-ferences with love.

17. What blessings will we enjoy when we “seekpeace” with one another?

SOMEEXPRESSIONSEXPLAINED

Fraud:

Deceiving or tricking anoth-

er person with the purpose

of getting something valu-

able or some legal right

Slander:

Saying something bad

and untrue about another

person that destroys his

or her reputation

ENDNOTE:[1] (paragraph 12) Others who solved problems peace-fully were Jacob, with Esau (Genesis 27:41-45; 33:1-11);Joseph, with his brothers (Genesis 45:1-15); and Gideon,with the Ephraimites (Judges 8:1-3). Perhaps you canthink of similar Bible examples.


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JESUS foretold that in the last days, the good news ofthe

Kingdom would be preached to all people. (Matthew 24:14) As Jehovah’s Witnesses, we are known worldwide forour preaching work. Some people like the message wepreach, while others do not. But even some of those whodo not like our message respect us for our work. We claimthat we are the ones doing the work that Jesus foretold.Do we have the right to say that? How can we be sure thatour preaching is the work that Jesus foretold?

2 Many religious groups claim that they are preaching

Jesus’ message. But their preaching is limited to sermonsat church, on television, or on the Internet, or they maysimply tell others how they learned about Jesus. Othersfeel that helping people in need or doing charity work asdoctors, nurses, or teachers is their way of preaching.

1, 2. What questions arise because of Jesus’ words found at Matthew24:14?

“Go, . . . and Make Disciplesof People of All the Nations”

“Go, . . . and make disciples of people of all the nations,

baptizing them . . . , teaching them to observe all the

things I have commanded you.” —MATTHEW 28:19, 20.

SONGS: 141, 97

HOW ARE JEHOVAH’S

WITNESSES DIFFERENT

CONCERNING . . .

the message they preach

and why they preach it?

the methods they use?

the scope of their work?


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But are these activities the preachingwork that Jesus spoke about?

3 Did Jesus want his disciples to waitfor people to come to them? No! Afterhis resurrection, Jesus told hundreds

of his followers: “Go, therefore, and

make disciples of people of all the na-tions, baptizing them . . . , teach-ing them to observe all the things Ihave commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19, 20) So as Jesus’ followers, we needto do four things. We must make disci-

ples, baptize them, and teach them.But first, we must go to the people.One Bible scholar explains: “To ‘go’is the task of each believer, whetheracross the street or across the ocean.”—Matthew 10:7; Luke 10:3.

4 What did Jesus expect from his dis-ciples? Did he want them to preach ontheir own, or did he want them to beorganized as a group? Since it wouldbe impossible for one person to preachto “all the nations,” his disciples wouldneed to be organized as a group. That

3. According to Matthew 28:19, what fourthings must Jesus’ followers do?

4. What is involved in becoming “fishers ofmen”?

is what Jesus meant when he invitedhis disciples to become “fishers of men.” (Read Matthew 4:18-22.) Je-sus was not referring to one fishermanusing his own line and bait, waiting for

fish to bite. Instead, the fishing Jesusreferred to involves the use of fishingnets.That kind of fishing requires hardwork, organization, and many peopleworking together.—Luke 5:1-11.

5 To know who are preaching thegood news today, we need to answerthese four questions:

ˇ What message should Jesus’ fol-

lowers preach?

ˇ What should their motive be?

ˇ What methods should they use?

ˇ What should be the scope of thework, and how long should it con-tinue?

The answers to these questions willhelp us to identify who are doing this

lifesaving work and will strengthen ourdesire to continue preaching.—1 Tim-othy 4:16.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE MESSAGE?

6 Read Luke 4:43. Jesus preached“the good news of the Kingdom,” andhe wants his disciples to do the same.Which group of people are preachingthat message to all? Only Jehovah’s

Witnesses! Even some who dislike usadmit that. For example, notice whatone missionary priest who had lived in

5. What four questions need to be answered,and why?

6. Why can you be confident that Jehovah’sWitnesses are preaching the right message?

Jehovah’s Witnessesare the only

ones preachingthe good news

of God’s Kingdom


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many different countries told one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In each coun-try, the priest had asked Jehovah’sWitnesses what message they werepreaching. The priest said, “They were

all so stupid that they gave the sameanswer: ‘The good news of the King-dom.’” The priest’s comment actuallyproves that we are not stupid butthat we are united as true Christians.(1 Corinthians 1:10) God’s Kingdom isalso the main message of The Watch- tower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.This magazine is available in 254 lan-

guages, and an average of nearly 59,-000,000 copies of each issue are pro-duced, which makes it the most widelycirculated magazine in the world!

7 The clergy of Christendom are notpreaching about God’s Kingdom. If they do talk about the Kingdom, manyof them say that it is a feeling ina person’s heart. (Luke 17:21) They

do not teach people that the King-dom is a heavenly government ruledby Jesus. Instead, they usually talkabout Jesus at Christmas or Easter.They do not explain that the Kingdomwill solve all mankind’s problems andthat it will soon remove all wickednessfrom the earth. (Revelation 19:11-21)Clearly, Christendom’s leaders do not

know what Jesus will do as King of God’s Kingdom. And because they donot understand Jesus’ message, theydo not understand why they shouldpreach.

7. How do we know that the clergy of Christen-dom are not preaching the right message?

WHAT SHOULD BE OUR MOTIVE

FOR DOING THE WORK?

8 Jesus’ disciples should not preachto make money or to build impressivebuildings. Jesus said: “You received

free, give free.” (Matthew 10:8) So thepreaching work should not be a busi-ness. (2 Corinthians 2:17, footnote)Jesus’ disciples should not ask to be

paid for their preaching work. (ReadActs 20:33-35.) Even though Jesus’instruction is very clear, most church-es are distracted by collecting moneyin order to keep their churches andpay their clergy and other employees.

As a result, many leaders of Christen-dom have become very rich.—Revela-tion 17:4, 5.

9 Do Jehovah’s Witnesses take col-lections at their Kingdom Halls or con-ventions? No! Their work is supportedby voluntary donations. (2 Corinthi-ans 9:7) Yet last year, Jehovah’s Wit-nesses spent almost two billion hours

preaching the good news and conduct-ed more than nine million Bible stud-ies each month. They are not paid for

8. What is the wrong motive for doing thepreaching work?

9. How have Jehovah’s Witnesses shown thatthey engage in the preaching work with theright motive?

The preaching workshould not be

a business

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their preaching but are happy to usetheir own money to do this work. Oneresearcher said about the work of Je-hovah’s Witnesses: “The main goal ispreaching and teaching.” He also saidthat Jehovah’s Witnesses do not havea paid clergy. So if we do not preachfor money, what is our motive? Wewillingly do this work because we loveJehovah and we love people. That atti-tude fulfills the prophecy at Psalm110:3. (Read.)

WHAT METHODS SHOULD BE USED?

10 What methods did Jesus and hisdisciples use to preach? They wentwherever they could find people. For

10. What methods did Jesus and his disciplesuse to preach?

example, they preached in the streetsand at markets. They also looked forpeople in private homes. (Matthew 10:11; Luke 8:1; Acts 5:42; 20:20) Preach-ing from house to house was an orga-nized way to reach all kinds of people.

11 Do churches of Christendompreach the good news as Jesus did?Usually, paid clergy give a sermon totheir members. These leaders do notmake new disciples but simply try tokeep the church members they alreadyhave. At times, they have tried to en-courage their members to preach. Forexample, in the year 2001, Pope JohnPaul II said in a letter that church

11, 12. When it comes to preaching the goodnews, how do the efforts of Christendom com-pare with those of Jehovah’s people?

We preach wherever we find people(See paragraph 10)


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members should preach the Gospeland have the same zeal as the apostlePaul, who said: “Woe to me if I do notpreach the Gospel.” The pope thensaid that this preaching work should

be done not only by a few trained peo-ple but by all church members. How-ever, few have followed that encour-agement.

12 What about Jehovah’s Witnesses?They are the only ones who preachthat Jesus has been ruling as Kingsince 1914. They obey Jesus and makethe preaching work a priority in their

life. (Mark 13:10) The book Pillarsof Faith—American Congregations and Their Partners said that for Jehovah’sWitnesses, the preaching work is veryimportant. It also said that when theyfind people who are hungry, lone-ly, and sick, they try to help, butthey never forget that their main goalis to preach about the end of this

world and to teach people about salva-tion. Jehovah’s Witnesses continue topreach that message and to imitatethe preaching methods of Jesus andhis disciples.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE SCOPE

OF THE WORK, AND HOW LONG

SHOULD IT CONTINUE?

13 Jesus said that his followers would

preach and teach the good news “in allthe inhabited earth.” They were com-manded to make disciples of peopleof “all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20) This means that the

13. What should be the scope of the preachingwork?

good news would need to be preachedworldwide.

14 Only Jehovah’s Witnesses havefulfilled Jesus’ prophecy that the goodnews would be preached worldwide.

Why do we say that? In the UnitedStates, there are about 600,000 mem-bers of the clergy in Christendom,while there are some 1,200,000 of Je-hovah’s Witnesses preaching the goodnews in that country. Worldwide, thereare about 400,000 Catholic priests,but there are more than 8 millionof Jehovah’s Witnesses preaching the

good news in 240 lands. Clearly, Je-hovah’s Witnesses are preaching thegood news worldwide, which bringshonor and praise to Jehovah!—Psalm34:1; 51:15.

15 As Jehovah’s Witnesses, our goalis to preach the good news to asmany people as possible before theend comes. To do this work, we have

translated and published millions of books, magazines, tracts, and conven-tion and Memorial invitations in morethan 700 languages. We offer these topeople free of charge. Just last year,we published about 4.5 billion piecesof Bible literature. We have also pub-lished more than 200 million copiesof the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in over 130 languages.On our official website, information isavailable in more than 750 languages.Only Jehovah’s Witnesses are doingsuch an amazing work.

14, 15. What proves that Jehovah’s Witnesseshave fulfilled Jesus’ prophecy with regard to thescope of the work? (See opening pictures.)

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16 How long would the preachingwork continue? Jesus said that thegood news would be preached untilthe end comes. As Jehovah’s Witness-es, we have been able to endure in

the preaching work throughout thelast days only because we have Jeho-vah’s holy spirit. (Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 4:14) Some religious people may say:“We have the holy spirit.” But arethey able to do the work that Jeho-vah’s Witnesses are doing during theselast days? Some groups have tried topreach the way we do, but they have

failed. Others are willing to preach,but only for a limited time. Still othersmay preach from house to house, butthey do not preach the good news of the Kingdom. So they cannot be doingthe work that Jesus started.

WHO REALLY ARE PREACHING

THE GOOD NEWS TODAY?

17 So who are preaching the good

16. How do we know that Jehovah’s Witnesseshave God’s spirit?

17, 18. (a) Why can we be certain that Jeho-vah’s Witnesses are the ones who are preachingthe good news of the Kingdom today? (b) Howis it possible for us to continue in this work?

news of the Kingdom today? Only Je-hovah’s Witnesses! How do we knowthat? Because we are preaching theright message, the good news of theKingdom. We are searching for peo-

ple in our ministry, so we are usingthe right methods. We have theright motive for preaching, that is,we love Jehovah and we love people.Our preaching work has the greatestscope, because we preach to peo-ple of all nations and languages. Andwe will continue to preach the goodnews of the Kingdom until the endcomes!

18 It is truly amazing to see the won-derful work that Jehovah’s people aredoing to preach the good news duringthese last days. But how are we able todo all this work? The apostle Paul ex-plains: “God is the one who for thesake of his good pleasure energizes

you, giving you both the desire andthe power to act.” (Philippians 2:13)May Jehovah continue to give us theneeded strength so that we can do ourbest to keep preaching the good news!—2 Timothy 4:5.


The scope of the preaching work refers to the widespread

preaching of the good news around the world to all the na-

tions. It includes the total number of Witnesses preaching

the good news, the large number of publications containing

the message, and the tremendous number of languages

used to preach the message


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1

IN THE Bible, Jehovah has given us laws that clearly tell

us what he wants us to do. For example, he tells us thatwe must not worship idols, steal, get drunk, or do thingsthat are sexually immoral. (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10) AndJehovah’s Son, Jesus, gave this specific command to hisfollowers: “Make disciples of people of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonand of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all thethings I have commanded you. And look! I am with youall the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”

(Matthew 28:19, 20) Everything that Jehovah and Jesustell us to do is for our own good. Jehovah’s laws teach ushow to look after ourselves and our families and help usto have better health and to be happy. More impor-tant, when we obey Jehovah’s commands, including the

1. What are some examples of Bible laws, and how does obeying thembenefit us?

How Do You MakePersonal Decisions?

“Keep perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.”

—EPHESIANS 5:17.

SONGS: 69, 57

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?

How can our decisions affect

us and others?

When the Bible does not give

us a specific law, how can

we know what would pleaseJehovah?

How can we get to know

more about the way Jehovah

thinks?


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command to preach, he is pleased withus and he blesses us.

2 At the same time, the Bible doesnot give us rules about every situationin life. For example, we do not find

specific instructions in the Bible onwhat we should wear. This shows howwise Jehovah is. Even though fashionkeeps changing over time and peoplearound the world wear different stylesof clothes, the Bible is never out-of-date. Also, it does not contain a lot of rules about what jobs or entertainmentwe should choose or exactly what we

should do to stay healthy. Jehovah al-lows individuals and family heads tomake decisions about these things.

3 So when we have to make an impor-tant decision that will affect our lifeand we find no law about it in the Bi-ble, we might wonder: ‘Is Jehovah in-terested in the decision I make? Willhe be pleased with whatever I choose

to do as long as I do not break a law inthe Bible? How can I be sure that hewill be happy with the choices I make?’

OUR DECISIONS AFFECT

US AND OTHERS

4 Some people feel that they can dowhatever they want to do. But we wantto do what makes Jehovah happy. So

before we make a decision, we need tothink about what the Bible says and

2, 3. (a) Why does the Bible not give us rulesfor every situation in life? (b) What questionswill be considered in this article? (See openingpicture.)

4, 5. How could our decisions affect us andothers?

then obey it. For example, the Bibletells us how God feels about the use of blood, so we follow what it says. (Gen-esis 9:4; Acts 15:28, 29) We can pray to

Jehovah to help us make decisions

that will please him.5 Our decisions affect us. A good de-

cision can help us draw closer to Jeho-vah. A bad decision could damage ourfriendship with him. Our decisions canalso affect other people. We do notwant to do anything that might upsetour brothers or weaken their faith. Wealso do not want to cause problems be-tween brothers in the congregation.So it is important for us to make gooddecisions.—Read Romans 14:19; Ga-latians 6:7.

6 When the Bible does not tell us ex-actly what we should do, how can wemake good decisions? Instead of justdoing what we prefer, we must think

carefully about our own situation andmake a decision that will please Jeho-vah. Then we can be sure that he willhelp us to have good results.—ReadPsalm 37:5.

WHAT DOES JEHOVAH

WANT ME TO DO?

7 But how can we know what willplease Jehovah? Ephesians 5:17 tells

us: “Keep perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.” When there is no specificlaw in the Bible, we need to perceive,

6. What should guide our decisions?

7. Where there is no Bible law, how can we findout what Jehovah would want us to do in a cer-tain situation?


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MAY 2016 1

or understand, what Jehovah wants usto do in our situation. How can we dothat? We need to pray to him and allowhis holy spirit to guide us.

8 Jesus always perceived what Jeho-

vah wanted him to do. For example,twice when the crowds were hungry,Jesus prayed and then fed them bymeans of a miracle. (Matthew 14:17-20; 15:34-37) But when he got hungryin the wilderness and the Devil wantedhim to change stones into bread, Je-sus refused. (Read Matthew 4:2-4.)He knew his Father very well, so he

knew that Jehovah would not wanthim to use holy spirit for his ownneeds. He was sure that his Fatherwould guide him and give him foodwhen he needed it.

9 Like Jesus, we can make good deci-sions if we rely on Jehovah to guideus. The Bible says: “Trust in Jehovahwith all your heart, and do not rely on

your own understanding. In all yourways take notice of him, and he willmake your paths straight. Do not be-come wise in your own eyes. FearJehovah and turn away from bad.”(Proverbs 3:5-7) When we study theBible and learn about the way Jehovahthinks, we will understand what hewants us to do in a specific situation.And the more we learn about the wayJehovah thinks, the easier it will be forus to make decisions that will please

8. How did Jesus perceive what Jehovah want-ed him to do? Give an example.

9, 10. What will help us make wise decisions? Il-lustrate.

him. In this way, we become more“sensitive to God’s guidance.”—Eze-kiel 11:19, footnote.

10 Imagine that a married woman isshopping and sees a lovely pair of

shoes. But they are very expensive. Al-though her husband is not with her,she knows what he would think if shespent that much money. How does sheknow? She has been married to himfor some time, so she knows how he

wants them to use the money they

have. In a similar way, when we learnabout the way Jehovah thinks andwhat he has done in the past, we willknow what he would want us to do indifferent situations.

HOW CAN YOU FIND OUT

WHAT JEHOVAH THINKS?

11 How can we find out what Jehovahthinks? The most important thing we

can do is to read and study the Bibleregularly. While we are doing this, wecould ask ourselves: ‘What does thisteach me about Jehovah? Why did he

11. What questions can we ask ourselves whenwe read or study the Bible? (See the box “WhenYou Study the Bible, Ask Yourself.”)

To find out whatJehovah thinks,we should readand study the Bibleregularly


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MAY 2016 1

our Christian meetings when we listencarefully and comment and when wemeditate on what is being taught. Thiswill help us learn to think the way Je-hovah does. As a result, we will be able

to make decisions that will please himand that he will bless.

MEDITATE ON WHAT JEHOVAH THINKS

BEFORE YOU MAKE A DECISION

13 Let us take a look at an example of how we can make a wise decision whenwe consider what Jehovah thinks. Per-haps you would like to pioneer. You

have made some changes in your lifeso that you can spend more time inthe ministry. But you are still notsure whether you will really be happywith less money and fewer things. Of course, the Bible does not say that wehave to pioneer to serve Jehovah. Wecould continue to serve him faithfullyas publishers. But on the other hand,

Jesus said that Jehovah blesses thosewho make sacrifices for the Kingdom.(Read Luke 18:29, 30.) The Bible alsosays that Jehovah is pleased when wedo all we can to praise him, and hewants us to be happy serving him.(Psalm 119:108; 2 Corinthians 9:7) Bypraying about these things and medi-tating on them, we can make a deci-sion that is practical in our situationand one that Jehovah will bless.

14 Here is another example: You real-

13. Give an example of how we can make awise decision when we consider what Jehovahthinks.

14. How can you determine if a certain style ofclothing is pleasing to Jehovah?

ly like a certain style of clothing,but you know that some in the con-gregation might be offended if youwear those clothes. The Bible doesnot say anything about that specif-

ic style. So how can you know whatJehovah thinks? The Bible tells us:“The women should adorn themselvesin appropriate dress, with modestyand soundness of mind, not with stylesof hair braiding and gold or pearls orvery expensive clothing, but in theway that is proper for women profess-ing devotion to God, namely, through

good works.” (1 Timothy 2:9, 10) Of course, all of Jehovah’s servants, in-cluding men, can learn from thesewords. When we are modest, we thinkof how others might feel about theclothes we choose to wear. And be-cause we love our brothers, we avoidupsetting or offending them. (1 Corin-thians 10:23, 24; Philippians 3:17) If we consider what the Bible says andhow Jehovah thinks, we can make de-cisions that he will be pleased with.

15 From the Bible, we learn that Je-hovah feels deeply hurt and sad whenpeople do wicked things and whenthey think about bad things. (ReadGenesis 6:5, 6.) It is clear that Jeho-

vah does not want us to daydreamabout sexually immoral things. In fact,if we keep thinking about these things,

15, 16. (a) How does Jehovah feel if we keepon thinking about sexually immoral things?(b) When we are choosing entertainment, howcan we know what is pleasing to Jehovah?(c) How should weighty decisions be made?


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we may actually do them. Instead, Je-hovah wants us to think about pureand good things. The disciple Jameswrote that Jehovah’s wisdom “is firstof all pure, then peaceable, reason-

able, ready to obey, full of mercy andgood fruits, impartial, not hypocriti-cal.” (James 3:17) So the Bible teach-es us that we must avoid any entertain-ment that could cause us to imagine ordesire unclean and bad things. And if we understand clearly what Jehovahloves and what he hates, it will be easyfor us to know which books, movies,

or games to choose. We will not needto ask others what we should do.

16 When we have a decision to make,there are often several options we canchoose from that would all please Je-hovah. But when we need to make avery important decision, it may begood to ask an elder or another experi-enced brother or sister to give us some

advice. (Titus 2:3-5; James 5:13-15)Of course, we should not ask that per-son to make a decision for us. Instead,we need to think carefully about whatwe know from the Bible and then make

our own decision. (Hebrews 5:14) Theapostle Paul said: “Each one will carryhis own load of responsibility.”—Gala-tians 6:5, footnote.

17 When we make decisions that

please Jehovah, we draw closer to himand have his approval and blessing.(James 4:8) Then our faith in Jeho-vah becomes stronger. So let us medi-tate on what we read in the Bibleso that we can understand how hethinks. Of course, we will always havesomething new to learn about Jeho-vah. (Job 26:14) But if we work hard

to learn about him now, we will be-come wise and will be able to makegood decisions. (Proverbs 2:1-5) Theideas and plans of humans change, butJehovah never changes. The psalm-ist said: “The decisions of Jehovahwill stand forever; the thoughts of hisheart are from generation to genera-tion.” (Psalm 33:11) Clearly, we can

make the best decisions when we learnto think the way Jehovah thinks andthen do what is pleasing to him.

17. How do we benefit from making decisionsthat please Jehovah?


To perceive Jehovah’s will:To find out, or understand, what Jehovah thinks

and what pleases him. This is especially important

when there is no specific command in the Bible.

We need to pray and meditate on what we have

learned about Jehovah, what he loves and hates,

and what he has done in the past


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2

FOR many years, Kevin gambled, smoked, drank too

much, and took drugs.[1] (See endnote.) Then he learnedabout Jehovah and wanted to be his friend. But to do so,he had to make big changes in his life. He was able to

change by means of Jehovah’s help and the power of HisWord, the Bible.—Hebrews 4:12.

2 After Kevin got baptized, he still had to make chang-es to his personality so that he could become a better

Christian. (Ephesians 4:31, 32) For example, he used toget angry quickly. He was surprised when he found outhow difficult it was to learn to control his temper. In fact,

Kevin said that learning to control his temper was

1-3. (a) What changes may it be hard for us to make after our bap-tism? (b) When making progress is harder than we expected, whatquestions might we ask? (See opening pictures.)

Is the Bible Still ChangingYour Life?

“Be transformed by making your mind over.” —ROMANS 12:2.

SONGS: 61, 52

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?

After baptism, why should we

keep making changes?

Why does God expect us toput forth effort to overcome

our weaknesses?

What can we do to let

God’s Word keep on

changing our life?


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for repentant sinners. So even if wefeel that what we have done is verybad, we must never stop praying to Je-hovah for forgiveness. If we did notask him to forgive us, it would be like

refusing to wash our hands when theyare dirty. How grateful we are that Je-hovah has made it possible for us to behis friends even though we are imper-fect!—Read 1 Timothy 1:15.

8 Of course, we cannot ignore ourweaknesses or keep making excusesfor them. Jehovah has told us whatkind of people he wants his friends to

be. (Psalm 15:1-5) So if we want todraw closer to him, we must keeptrying to imitate him and his Son. Wemust also try to control our wrong de-sires, and we may even be able toget rid of some of them. No matterhow long we have been baptized, wemust keep improving our personality.—2 Corinthians 13:11.

9 The apostle Paul told Christians:“You were taught to put away the oldpersonality that conforms to your for-mer course of conduct and that is be-ing corrupted according to its decep-tive desires. And you should continueto be made new in your dominantmental attitude, and should put on thenew personality that was created ac-

cording to God’s will in true righteous-ness and loyalty.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)This means that we need to keep onmaking the effort to change and “put

8. Why should we not ignore our weaknesses?

9. How do we know that we can keep putting onthe new personality?

on the new personality.” So no matterhow long we have been serving Jeho-vah, we can always learn more abouthis qualities. And the Bible can help usto keep making changes in our person-

ality to become more like him.

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT?

10 We all want to follow what the Bi-ble says. But we need to work hard if we want to continue to change. Whydo we need to make such an effort?Could not Jehovah just make it easyfor us to do what is right?

11 When we think of the universeand all that is in it, we have nodoubt that Jehovah has the power todo anything. For example, he madethe sun, which is extremely powerful.Every second, the sun produces a hugeamount of light and heat, yet only asmall amount of this energy is neededfor life on earth to exist. (Psalm 74:16; Isaiah 40:26) Jehovah also gives

10. What must we do to keep making changeswith the help of the Bible, and what questionsmight we ask?

11-13. Why does Jehovah expect us to put fortheffort to overcome our weaknesses?

If we want to drawcloser to Jehovah,we must keep tryingto imitate himand his Son

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power to his servants on earth whenthey need it. (Isaiah 40:29) Clearly, if Jehovah wanted to, he could make itvery easy for us to fight our weakness-es and to stop having wrong desires.

So why does he not do so?12 Jehovah has given us free will.

He allows us to choose for ourselveswhether we will obeyhim or not. Whenwe choose to obey him and work hardto do his will, we show that we love himand want to please him. Satan saysthat Jehovah has no right to rule. Butwhen we obey Jehovah, we show thatwe want him to be our Ruler. And wecan be sure that our loving Father val-ues every effort we make to obey him.(Job 2:3-5; Proverbs 27:11) When wework hard to control our weaknesseseven though it is not easy to do so, weare loyal to Jehovah and show that wewant him to be our Ruler.

13

Jehovah tells us that we shouldwork hard to imitate his qualities. (Co-lossians 3:12; read 2 Peter 1:5-7.) Healso expects us to work hard to controlwhat we think and what we feel. (Ro-mans 8:5; 12:9) Whenever we haveto work hard to make a change andwe are successful, we feel especiallyhappy.

LET GOD’S WORDKEEP ON CHANGING YOU

14 What must we do to develop the

qualities that Jehovah loves? Instead

14, 15. What can we do to develop qualitiesthat Jehovah loves? (See the box “The Bibleand Prayer Changed Their Lives.”)

Russell often complained about oth-

er brothers and sisters and thought

that most of the time they did not do

anything right. Maria Victoria loved to

gossip. Linda was afraid of what others

might think or say whenever she went

out in the ministry. Although all three

were baptized Christians, they thought it

would be impossible to change. But theywere able to make changes. What helped

them?

Russell: “Supplicating Jehovah in

prayer and a daily dose of Bible reading

helped me. Meditating on 2 Peter 2:11

and on personal counsel from the elders

made a big difference.”

Maria Victoria: “I fervently prayed to

Jehovah to help me control my tongue. I

also saw the need to stop having close

association with people who loved to

gossip. Psalm 64:1-4 made me realize

that I did not want to be one from whom

others pray to be safeguarded! I also

came to appreciate that continuing to

gossip would make me a poor example

and bring reproach on Jehovah’s name.”

Linda: “I familiarized myself with our

tracts so as to be prepared to offer them.

Associating with those who enjoy vari-

ous avenues of service has been a great

help. And I continue to rely on Jehovah

through prayer.”

The Bible and Prayer

Changed Their Lives

˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙

˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙


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MAY 2016 2

of just deciding for ourselves what we

need to change, we need to let Godguide us. Romans 12:2 says: “Stop be-ing molded by this system of things,but be transformed by making yourmind over, so that you may prove toyourselves the good and acceptableand perfect will of God.” So to find outwhat Jehovah wants, we need to relyon the help that he has provided. We

must read the Bible daily, meditate onwhat we read, and pray to Jehovah togive us his holy spirit. (Luke 11:13; Ga-latians 5:22, 23) In these ways, Jeho-vah can help us to understand whatpleases him, and we can learn to thinkthe way he does. As a result, what we

think, say, and do will be more pleas-

ing to Jehovah, and we will learn howto control our weaknesses. But eventhen, we will need to keep fightingthem.—Proverbs 4:23.

15 In addition to reading the Bibleevery day, we need to study it with thehelp of our publications, such as The Watchtower and Awake! Many articlesin these magazines teach us how we

can imitate Jehovah’s qualities andhow to fight our weaknesses. We mayfind certain articles or scriptures thatare especially helpful to us. We cancollect these scriptures and articles sothat we can read them again from timeto time.

Collect articles from ourpublications or scripturesfrom the Bible that helpyou fight your weaknesses,and read them againfrom time to time(See paragraph 15)


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16 It takes time to learn to imitate Je-hovah’s qualities. So if you feel thatyou have not made as many changes asyou would like to, be patient. At first,you may need to force yourself to do

what the Bible says. But the more youthink and behave the way Jehovahwants you to, the easier it will becomefor you to think the way he does and todo what is right.—Psalm 37:31; Prov-erbs 23:12; Galatians 5:16, 17.

THINK ABOUT OUR

WONDERFUL FUTURE

17

We look forward to the time whenwe will be perfect and serve Jehovahforever. At that time, we will not needto fight any weaknesses, and it will bemuch easier for us to imitate Jehovah.But even now we are able to worshipJehovah because he has given us thegift of the ransom. Although we areimperfect, we can please him if wecontinue to work hard to make chang-es and follow what he teaches us in theBible.

16. Why should we not be discouraged if we arenot able to make changes quickly?

17. If we are loyal to Jehovah, what delightfulfuture can we look forward to?

18 Kevin did all he could to learn tocontrol his anger. He meditated onwhat he read in the Bible and triedhard to make changes in his life. Healso followed the advice that fellow

Christians gave him. Although it tooka few years for Kevin to improve, intime he was able to serve as a ministe-rial servant. And for the last 20 years,he has been serving as an elder. Buteven now, he knows that he needs tocontinue fighting his weaknesses.

19 Like Kevin, we can keep improv-ing our personality. If we do, we will

continue to draw closer to Jehovah.(Psalm 25:14) And when we do all wecan to make changes to please him, hewill help us to succeed. We can besure that with the help of the Bible,we can keep making changes in ourlives.—Psalm 34:8.

18, 19. How can we be sure that the Bible haspower to continue changing our life?


We fight our weaknesses:

We may have weaknesses that are not easy to control,

or we may make the same mistakes again and again.

For example, we may be impatient, lose our temper easily,

or complain a lot about others. We need to keep trying

hard to correct our weaknesses because we know that

this will please Jehovah. Resisting these weaknesses

is likened to a fight

ENDNOTE:

[1] (paragraph 1) The name has been changed.


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AS Jehovah’s Witnesses, we love the Bible. It gives uscomfort, hope, and instruction that we can trust. (Ro-mans 15:4) It is not a book of human ideas but is “the

word of God.”—1 Thessalonians 2:13.2 Most likely, all of us have our favorite parts of the Bi-

ble. Some like the Gospels because they show Jehovah’sbeautiful personality through Jesus. (John 14:9) Othersprefer prophetic books such as Revelation, which showsus “the things that must shortly take place.” (Revelation1:1) Some are comforted when they read the Psalms, andothers enjoy reading the helpful advice in the book of Proverbs. Clearly, then, the Bible is a book for everyone.

3 Because we love the Bible, we also love our publica-tions, which are based on God’s Word. All the books,brochures, magazines, and other literature we receive

1, 2. (a) How do Jehovah’s Witnesses feel about the Bible? (b) Whatis your favorite part of the Bible?

3, 4. (a) How do we feel about our publications? (b) What publica-tions do we receive for specific groups of people?

Benefit FullyFrom Jehovah’s Provisions

“I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching youto benefit yourself.” —ISAIAH 48:17.

SONGS: 117, 114

HOW WOULD YOU

ANSWER?

What could cause us to miss

out on the benefits of some

spiritual provisions?

What suggestions can help

us to benefit from all portion

of the Bible?

How can we benefit

from considering material

directed to young people

and to the public?

2


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are provisions from Jehovah. Theyhelp us to stay close to him and to keepour faith strong.—Titus 2:2.

4 Many of our publications are writ-ten for Jehovah’s Witnesses in gener-

al. However, there are some publi-cations that are written for specificgroups, such as young ones or parents.Most of the articles and videos onour website are prepared specifical-ly for people who are not Jehovah’sWitnesses. Such a variety of materialshows that Jehovah has kept his prom-ise to provide plenty of instruction for

all people.—Isaiah 25:6.5 Most of us would like to have more

time to read the Bible and our publica-tions. So we may not always spend thesame amount of time studying everypublication we get. We can be surethat Jehovah is pleased with us whenwe use our time wisely to read andstudy the Bible and our publications.

(Ephesians 5:15, 16) However, there isa danger that we must be careful toavoid. What is it?

6 If we are not careful, we mightthink that certain parts of the Bible orcertain publications do not apply tous. For example, what if a part of theBible does not seem practical for oursituation? Or what if we are not partof the main audience for a publica-tion? Do we just read such informa-tion quickly or even avoid reading it at

5. We can be sure that Jehovah appreciateswhat?

6. What could cause us to miss out on the ben-efits of Jehovah’s provisions?

all? If so, we could miss out on valu-able information that would benefitus. How can we avoid that danger? Weshould remember that all the infor-mation we get comes from Jehovah.

In the Bible we read: “I, Jehovah,am your God, the One teaching youto benefit yourself.” (Isaiah 48:17) Inthis article, we will discuss three sug-gestions that will help us to benefitfrom all the provisions that Jehovahgives us.

SUGGESTIONS FOR

BENEFICIAL BIBLE READING

7 Read with an open mind. It is truethat some parts of the Bible were writ-ten for a specific person or group of people. However, the Bible clearly saysthat “all Scripture is inspired of Godand beneficial.” (2 Timothy 3:16) Thatis why we need to have an open mindwhen we read the Bible. One brother

tries to remember that he can learnseveral lessons from just one account.That helps him to see lessons that arenot so obvious. So before we read theBible, we should ask Jehovah to giveus an open mind and the wisdom tounderstand the lessons that he wantsus to learn.—Ezra 7:10; read James1:5.

8 Ask questions. When you read theBible, stop and ask yourself the fol-

7. Why do we need to read the Bible with anopen mind?

8, 9. (a) When reading the Bible, what ques-tions might we ask ourselves? (b) What do thequalifications for Christian elders tell us aboutJehovah?


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MAY 2016 2

lowing questions: ‘What does this tellme about Jehovah? How can I usethis information in my life? How canI use it to help others?’ When wemeditate on these questions, we will

benefit more from our Bible reading.Let us look at one example. The Bi-ble describes certain qualifications forChristian elders. (Read 1 Timothy3:2-7.) Yet most of us are not el-ders, so we may think that this infor-mation cannot help us in any way.However, let us use the three ques-tions mentioned earlier to see how

this list of qualifications can help allof us.

9 “What does this tell me about Jeho-

vah?” Jehovah gave us the list of qual-ifications for elders. He has high stan-dards for the men who care for thecongregation. This shows that the con-

gregation is precious to Jehovah. TheBible says that he bought it “with theblood of his own Son.” (Acts 20:28)So Jehovah expects elders to be goodexamples, and they are accountable tohim for the way they treat members of the congregation. He wants us to feelsafe under their care. (Isaiah 32:1, 2)When we read these qualifications, we

learn how much Jehovah truly caresfor us.

Are you getting allthe benefits you canfrom your Bible reading?(See paragraph 7)


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10 “How can I use this information in my

life?” If you are already an elder, youshould regularly review the list of qual-ifications and try to improve. If youare “reaching out to be an overseer,”

you should try to meet these qualifi-cations to the best of your ability.

(1 Timothy 3:1) But all Christians canlearn from these qualifications. Forexample, Jehovah expects each of usto be reasonable and to use good judg-ment. (Philippians 4:5; 1 Peter 4:7)When the elders are “examples to theflock,” we can learn from them and

“imitate their faith.”—1 Peter 5:3; He-brews 13:7.

11 “How can I use this information to

help others?” We can use the list of qualifications for Christian elders tohelp Bible students and other interest-ed ones to understand how the eldersare different from the religious clergy.This list can also help us to rememberthe hard work that the elders do inour congregation. And this, in turn,will help us to respect these brothers.

10, 11. (a) When reading the qualifications forelders, how can we apply the information in ourown life? (b) How can we use this information tohelp others?

(1 Thessalonians 5:12) The more we re-spect them, the more joy they will havein their assignment.—Hebrews 13:17.

12 Do research. When we study theBible, we can look for the answers to

the following questions:ˇ Who wrote this part of the Bible?

ˇ Where and when was it written?

ˇ What important events were hap-pening when this book was writ-ten?

Such information may help us to seelessons that are not immediately ob-vious to us.

13 For example, Ezekiel 14:13, 14says: “If a land sins against me by act-ing unfaithfully, I will stretch out myhand against it and destroy its foodsupply, and I will send famine uponit and cut off man and animal fromit. ‘Even if these three men—Noah,Daniel, and Job—were within it, they

would be able to save only themselvesbecause of their righteousness,’ de-clares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.” If we do some research, we learn thatEzekiel wrote those words about 612years before Christ. Noah and Jobhad already been dead for hundredsof years, but Jehovah still remem-bered their faithfulness. Daniel, how-

ever, was still alive. Most likely, he wasabout 20 years old when Jehovah saidthat he was righteous just like Noahand Job. What do we learn? Jehovah

12, 13. (a) Using tools available to us, whatkind of research might we do? (b) Give an ex-ample of how background information may re-veal lessons that are not immediately obvious.

Jehovah expectseach of us to be

reasonable and to

use good judgment


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MAY 2016 3

sees and values all of his faithful ser-vants, including young ones.—Psalm148:12-14.

BENEFIT FROM A VARIETY

OF PUBLICATIONS

14 Literature for young people. Wehave learned that we can benefit fromall parts of the Bible. In a similar way,we can benefit from all our publica-tions. Let us consider a few examples.In recent years, Jehovah has provideda lot of information for young peo-ple.[1] (See endnote.) This information

helps them to cope with pressures atschool and the challenges of grow-ing up. But how can all of us benefitfrom reading these articles and books?When we read this information, welearn about the problems young peo-ple have and are better able to helpand encourage them.

15 Adult Christians should not be too

proud to read information for youngpeople. Many of the problems dis-cussed in the articles for them affectall Christians. For example, all of usneed to defend our beliefs, control ouremotions, reject peer pressure, andavoid bad association and entertain-ment. So even though these publica-tions were written for young people,

the information in them comes fromthe Bible, and all Christians can ben-efit.

14. How does the material published for youngpeople help them, and how can it benefit otherstoo? (See opening picture.)

15. Why should adult Christians be interested ininformation for young people?

16 Publications written for youngpeople can also help them to strength-en their friendship with Jehovah.(Read Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13.) Andadults can benefit too. For example,

the April 2009 issue of Awake! includ-ed the article “Young People Ask . . .How Can I Make Bible Reading Enjoy-able?” That article had several helpfulsuggestions and included a box thatcould be cut out, kept, and used forstudy. Did adults benefit from the arti-cle? One wife and mother said that Bi-ble reading has always been difficult

for her. But she used the suggestionsin the article and now looks forward toBible reading. She says that she enjoys

seeing how the books of the Bible arerelated and create a beautiful picture,adding, “I have never been this excit-ed over Bible reading.”

17 Literature for the public. Since2008 we have enjoyed the study edi-tion of The Watchtower. This edition iswritten mostly for Jehovah’s Witness-es, but we also have magazines that

16. What else do our publications help youngpeople to do?

17, 18. How can we benefit from reading ma-terial written for the public? Give an example.

Adult Christians shouldnot be too proudto read information

for young people


32/32

Free downloads of this You can also read the Visit www.jw.org,n p

are mainly for the public. How can webenefit from those as well? Let us use

an example. When you invite a personto the Kingdom Hall and he comes,you are excited. While the speakergives his talk, you think about yourguest. You wonder how this personfeels about the things he is hearing andhow the information can change hislife. As a result, your heart is touchedand you are even more grateful for

that subject.18 Something similar may happen to

us when we read literature written forthe public. For example, the publicedition of The Watchtower and articleson jw.org explain the Bible using wordsand expressions that are easy to un-derstand. When we read this informa-tion, we deepen our understanding

and love for Bible truths that we al-ready know well. Also, we may learn

new ways to explain our beliefs inthe ministry. In a similar way, the

Awake! magazine strengthens our be-lief that there is a Creator. It also helpsus learn how to defend our beliefs.—Read 1 Peter 3:15.

19 Clearly, Jehovah has providedplenty of advice and instruction forour benefit. (Matthew 5:3) Let us con-tinue to read and apply all the infor-mation he has given to us. If we do

that, we will benefit and will show Je-hovah that we are grateful for all of hisprovisions.—Isaiah 48:17.

19. How can we show our gratitude to Jehovahfor his provisions?


Jehovah gives advice and

instruction for our benefit.

Jehovah’s provisions

include the Bible, our

publications, and material

on jw.org. We benefit whenwe read and study such

information carefully

To have an open mind

means to be willing to

accept new and different

ideas. When we read the

Bible and our publications,

we need to meditate onhow the information can

help us personally

ENDNOTE:

[1] (paragraph 14) Such information includes Questions

Young People Ask—Answers That Work, Volumes 1 and2, as well as the series “Young People Ask,” which is nowpublished exclusively online.
http://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1011209&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1011208&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1011209&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1011209&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1011208&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1011208&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1011209&srcid=pdfhttp://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&srcid=pdf

settle differences in a spirit of love

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