Welcome back, my beautiful readers.
It really means a lot to me that you have taken time out of your busy schedules to read what I have to say.
As mentioned earlier from my blog: How we pain the Holy One of Israel - From my personal Bible reading, We have been given the chance to develop an intimate relationship with our creator, and here, my dear readers, is the subject of this blog: where we can learn why we should and how we can have that intimate relationship with our creator, the sovereign of the universe, Jehovah God.
Picture yourself at
the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. A public discourse
from the Bible is about to be given. The speaker is a traveling
overseer, like those of the 1st century Christians of the
Bible, like the Apostle Paul for instance.
“I planed each
chartered course along the byway, and much more than this, I did it
my way. Let the record show, I took the blows and I did it my way.”
What you just heard were the lyrics to the Frank Sinatra song
entitled 'My Way.' That song, perhaps like any other, has been, in
effect, the theme song for this 21st century, as it not so
subtly promotes the concept of living life as we see fit, chartering
our own course through life, and, yes, doing things “My Way.”
Yet, has this very
popular concept made our world a better place? Has it made people
happier? More content? More satisfied with life? Hardly! In fact,
just the opposite. It has contributed to the downward spiral of every
element of human society. It is for that very reason that thousands
of years ago our wise and loving creator and life giver, Jehovah God,
gave us humans this wise council. Psalm 37, and notice in just one
simple statement of scripture Jehovah's direction for us as his
children, verse 34. Now you notice, far from encouraging humans to
chart their own course, to do things 'their way,' do you notice
Jehovah's council? “do it my way, listen to me, obey me, listen to
my instructions, do it 'my way.'”
Would that reflect
wisdom on our part to follow Jehovah's way, instead of our own? It
certainly would. And here's why it would. Isiah
55. Notice this humbling reality. verse 8. According to this, would it reflect wisdom on our part to
do things Jehovah's way and not our own? It certainly would. Did you
notice why that would reflect wisdom? Well, as Jehovah himself
expresses here, his ways are so much higher, more elevated than our
ways. Byington, translation renders this verse, saying “For sky is
higher than earth by so much, are my courses are than yours.” So in
effect, that distance between the earth and the heavens, that massive
gap, is somewhere between the gap of our intellect and Jehovah's,
between our way of doing things and Jehovah's.
Yes, Jehovah's ways
are so much higher than our ways. Why is that the case? Well because
Jehovah's ways, 100 % of the time, are governed by love, and other
highly elevated qualities, and thus, if a human chooses to do it
Jehovah's way, well, their life, their personality, their practices,
will reflect those elevated qualities, and thus they will always
enjoy happiness, satisfaction, and success in life.
Conversely, though,
if a human choses to reject Jehovah's way in favor of doing it their
own way, that person will always struggle to find happiness, success
and satisfaction. Why is that the case? Well, think of the origin of
the 'my way' mentality. After all, it wasn't Frank Sinatra who
originated that mentality, was he? He wasn't the first one to chart
his own course. To do things 'his way.' Who started that whole
concept? That was Satin, the Devil. He was the first one to do things
'his own way', rejecting Jehovah's way, and thus, the world that he
owns today, doesn't it reflect that same mentality? “No one's going
to tell me what to do! I'm going to do things 'my way'.” Yes, the
world is full of egotism and rebellion and the sad consequences of
doing things their 'own way'.
For example, Do you
happen to much about the personal life of Frank Sinatra? Mr Sinatra
was married 4 times. And even into his old age, he was commonly know
as a viratious womanizer. In fact, his fourth and final wife
described her husband this way “as an entertaining drunk with ties
to the mob, a man who never apologized for anything.” Yes, Mr
Sinatra lived life 'his way', sure he did, but was doing it his way
the 'right way'? Did it benefit him and his family? Did it make him
happier? And thus it is wise for humans to reject this egotistical
satanic 'my way' mentality that is so popular in the world, choosing
instead, to do it Jehovah's way, the only way that leads to real
happiness and success in life.
Since that's the
case, perhaps we do well to ask, “well how can we learn God's
ways?” It is a good question, because sometimes today, people
choose to do things their own way, or to simply imitate the masses in
the world because they don't know God. If you don't know God, it's
hard to walk in his ways, right? So how can a human get to know
Jehovah so as to follow 'his path' and 'his ways'?
Well, right now, we
would like to briefly highlight 2 things that can teach humans how to
walk in Jehovah's ways, 2 things that can teach us about Jehovah. The
first is mentioned for us in the book of Psalms
19: 1 - 2, and let's see if we can identity the first thing that
teaches us about Jehovah,
The heavens are declaring the glory of God;+The skies above* proclaim the work of his hands.+ 2 Day after day their speech bubbles forth,
And night after night they reveal knowledge.
According to this, what is the first thing that teaches humans about
Jehovah? Creation... physical creation. It's interesting, the
Psalmist described creation around us as 'the work of Jehovah's
hands.' And thus, here, Jehovah God, our creator, is betrayed here as
almost like an artist, who uses his hands to create the beautiful art
that we see around us in nature and creation. And thus, the art of
creation, shouldn't it teach us something about the artist?
And that's how it
generally works with art, for example, if a person is a student of
literal art today, they can generally walk into an art museum, and
tell you exactly who the artist is just by looking at the art,
because in the art, they see the artist, his personalities, his
qualities. Would the same thing be true of the great artist Jehovah
God? In physical creation around us, can we see the work of his
hands, can we see his qualities? Absolutely! In fact, we could say
there's not a creative work in the universe that will not teach us
something about the great artist, Jehovah God, if we will allow it
to. And you know, we can prove that.
Anyone here, today,
have a garden? Let's say for the sake of illustration that you have a
garden, and let's say that your garden is one acre in size, do you
know what that means? That means that under the soil of your garden,
there will be upwards of 2,000,000,000 earth worms. Now those slimy
creatures aren't just hanging out underneath the soil, but they're
incessant workers. In fact, scientist tell us that those
2,000,000,000 earth worms in one years time will turn 18 tons of soil
in that one acre lot. By their movements, by their rotations, they
act as little rototillers, bringing about aeration and irrigation to
the soil. Scientist also tell us that those little worms come to the
surface and they drag organic materials underneath the soils surface,
bringing about fertilization to the soil.
Those little worms
literally work day and night in your garden. Question, what does that
teach you about the great artist Jehovah? Now you may be thinking,
that reflects Jehovah's love in helping me to enjoy the food that I
enjoy eating, and you know, that is true, but think about it this
way, you ladies, when you're out shopping, or watching your favorite
television program, or you gentleman, when your out golfing or
enjoying a vacation at the beach, who's working in your garden? Who's
turning 18 tons of soil? Who's aerating, irrigating, fertilizing? The
worms are. Now if those worms weren't doing that work, who would have
to do it? You would. You would have to turn that 18 tons of soil. You
would have to aerate, irrigate, fertilize. So Jehovah didn't just
supply the worms to produce food, he provided them to work in your
behalf so that you wouldn't have to work to produce the food. Doesn't
even a slimy little worm teach us about Jehovah God? It certainly
does!
And you know, we
haven't even scratched the surface of Jehovah's handy work. We
haven't even talked about the physical laws in creations. Laws such
as the law of gravity. The law of electromagnetism. Laws Jehovah put
into place for our life to function. Laws that become the foundations
for which science relies. And yet, you want to know the irony? How
does the world refer to these laws that Jehovah has put into place?
What do they call them? “The laws of nature.” Now isn't that
ironic? In affect, the world studies the art, they enjoy the art,
they benefit from the art, and then they give credit for all of it
to, to the art. Now, that's not only sad, it's inexcusable. In fact,
the apostle Paul at Romans 1:20 said
it's inexcusable to examine the physical art work in creation and
give credit to the artist.
Yes, the book of
creation can teach us a lot about Jehovah, if we allow it to.
However, there is a second thing that can teach us even more about
Jehovah than the physical book of creation. What book are we talking
about? The book that you hold in your hands. You know, the Bible is
far greater, far greater than anything else, including creation, in
teaching us about Jehovah God. Now how so?
Think about it this
way, if you had a great grandfather that you had never met, can you
learn something about him from the home he built, that he decorated,
while he was alive? Would the home teach you anything about your
grandfather? Yes it would. Maybe it would teach you a little bit
about his personality, the qualities, the love that he had creating
and decorating the home. But what if while examining your great
grandfathers home, you found his personal diary. A book, that in
great detail, explained why he built the home, who the home was for,
how he wanted it used. A book that explained your great grandfathers
standards, personality. Would the diary teach you more about your
great grandfather than just examining the house? Certainly!
So it is with this
book given to us by our heavenly father. While it's true that
creation, including the physical home that Jehovah gave us can teach
us something about our father, nothing can teach us more than the
Bible. Because only the Bible tells us why Jehovah build this earthly
home, who the home was for, how he wanted it used. Only the Bible
reveals Jehovah's personality and standards. Only the Bible shows us
why doing things Jehovah's way is beneficial.
For example,
consider Jehovah's way as it relates to just one element of human
life today, and that's family life. Would you not agree, brothers and
sisters and guest, that never in human history has family life become
more disfunctional than it is right now? Never have we seen as much
misery in marriages, skyrocketing divorce rates, children being
raised by anyone or anything other than their birth parents. Never
has we seen dysfunctional family life on the levels that we are
seeing it right now. Why is that the case?
Well, because for
the most part, humans within the family arrangement have chosen to do
it 'their way' in stead of Jehovah's. But misery in a family was not
Jehovah's way. He intended marriages to be strong and not be
insecure. And that is why, in Ephesians chapter 5, the husbands are
instructed to love their wives as their own bodies. Wives are
commanded to have deep respect for their husbands. That's Jehovah's
way for a marriage. At Deuteronomy chapter 6, Jehovah outlines that
parents should raise their children to love and respect God because
they've taught what already resides in their hearts. That's Jehovah's
way for parents and children. Do you think that if married couples,
parents, and children all did it Jehovah's way instead of their own,
that we would see a difference in families? Would families be more
happier? More secure? No question about it. But you know, that's just
one very small element of human society that the Bible talks about.
Consider another,
turn in your Bibles to Eph chapter 4, We
are so blessed that Jehovah's word, the Bible, doesn't just outline
his way for the family, but really, for every element of human life,
including our interactions with one another. Jehovah's straight forward council. Here, Jehovah, in two simple scriptures, outlines his way, in
connections with our interactions with other humans, weather they be
in a family, in the congregation, in our workplace. For example, in
Verse 31 Jehovah outlines some destructive personality traits, do you see some
of them? Things like, malice, bitterness, anger, wrath, screaming,
abusive speech, Jehovah says, take all of those things that destroy
relationships and put them away from you, and replace them with, do
you notice the qualities in verse 32?
Becoming kind, tender, compassionate, freely forgiving. Now, do you
think that if the world would apply just those two verses of
scripture that life would improve? Would your drive into work
tomorrow improve if everyone on the road would apply just these two
verses of scripture? Would your workday improve? Your family life
improve? How many terrible tragedies; traumatic events, could be
completely eliminated, if people chose to do it Jehovah's way, as
explained for us, in just these two verses.
For example: Just a
few years ago out in California, there was a man who went into a
store to purchase some products. This man was known as being a little
of a 'hot head,' and as he was checking out, he and the clerk had a
little bit of an exchange. There was some screaming, some abusive
speech, and eventually, the clerk kicked the man out of the store.
Standing out in the parking lot were 4 young men that heard this man
loose his self control, and so they proceeded to make fun of the man.
Well, that caused him to totally loose it. So, he went back to his
car, got a pistol out of his car, and just started indiscriminately
firing on the four young men. Three of them were able to get away
safely. However, one was shot in the back, and he fell to the ground.
That man, still in a rage, ran over to that young man, flipped him
over, and there lying dead on the ground, was his 14 year old son. He
shot his own boy! And now, he'll have to live the consequences, of
bitterness, anger, abusive speech. He'll have to live with the
consequences of doing it 'his way' instead of 'Jehovah's way'.
Tragedy of this
nature can be avoided if humans simply force themselves to do it
God's way instead of their own. And that's why our loving and wise
creator has encouraged us to do it 'his way.' And to help us to do
it, he's invited us to get to know him, personally, intimately, so
that we can walk in his ways. Now some might say “Is that even
possible? Is it possible for imperfect humans to form a relationship
with a perfect God? Is that even possible?” Well, the answer to
that question is YES. The question is, “How do we do it?”
That, my dear
readers, will be the next topic of discussion... in part two...
Stay tuned...
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