LIVING AS CHRISTIANS: Week from May 1 to 7, 2023, "See yourself as Jehovah sees you", Video Let's follow the example of those who had faith. Let's imitate Moses, not Pharaoh. Analysis and Answers.

LIVING AS CHRISTIANS: May 1-7-2023, Video: Persuade your heart before Jehovah, Analysis and Answers.

“See yourself as Jehovah sees you” (15 min.): Analysis with the audience and video.

What does the example of the runner and his father teach us about how Jehovah views us?

It teaches us that Jehovah better than anyone has seen everything we have done to please him from our beginnings, so even if we stumble and fall, Jehovah continues to consider us as his very valuable children. This is something very good to keep in mind, because no one is free from making a mistake and falling into some sin before Jehovah. Therefore, this must be taken into account.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

This example of the runner and his father makes us see how Jehovah sees each one of us. Since even if we stumble and fall, Jehovah continues to consider us valuable children and we say this because he appreciates seeing that if we fall we get up with the aim of finishing the race. So it is important to have this example as a lesson for our life.

And this father is proud of his son because he admires him when he sees that despite having stumbled he gets up, and recognizes that he is his son. This is the example that is put in the video. And this is very important, these truths, these principles, can help any of us, if we have had a setback or if we have another setback in the future. That is why the Bible says that those who are standing take care not to fall, or they can make us meet someone, a friend, a relative or a member of the congregation who approaches us, who expresses their feelings for a stumbling block they had, and This information can help us to help lift up someone who feels down, who feels bad, who feels terribly with feelings of low self-esteem and worthlessness. So we want to imitate Jehovah raising the fallen, not tearing him down. 

If someone has committed a serious sin but has already taken steps to regain his friendship with Jehovah, how can he make his heart feel secure before God? (1Jn 3:19, 20).

Well, in these verses the verb to assure also means to persuade, so studying the Bible and meditating on it can help our hearts feel safe before Jehovah.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

1 John 3:19 and 20 talks about assuring our hearts before God. Even if the heart condemns us, God is bigger than our heart and he knows everything. Of course, each case is different and each brother has his recovery process differently, it can cause someone who has sinned, but is not taking the necessary steps to recover his friendship with Jehovah, but in general we can say that the person is sincere wants to recover wants to be right again with Jehovah, this text can help us, so to speak, to secure our hearts. The verb to assure means to persuade and to persuade is to change a way of thinking through facts or specific reasons.

So to understand who is telling us that we are worthless, who is telling us that we are not serving is our heart and not Jehovah, and that is when we are persuading our hearts, because we are not listening to the voice of Jehovah telling us that we are worthless, we are listening to the voice of that traitor that is our heart, let us keep that in mind. Jehovah is telling us that if we have already done our part, he will do his part.

It is like a debt that has already been paid, but we mistakenly believe we still have bills, installments, pending in the bank, we go to the bank and it tells us that the debt has already been settled, it has already been fully paid, if we are going to listen to our hearts that they are usually wrong, or we are going to listen to the bank staff who affirm to us with documents in hand that our debt has been settled, it is something similar, since if we see it from that point we can persuade our hearts. 

How did reading and pondering the accounts of David and Jehoshaphat help the brother?

It helped him a lot, because meditating on the example of King David helped him understand how Jehovah really sees him, because being our creator, he knows our weaknesses, motives and intentions, which helped him recover his self-esteem and feel more secure . 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

And in the case of Jehoshaphat, it made him realize that Jehovah does not focus only on our mistakes, for he remembers everything we have done for his Kingdom, and he can see all our potential and our sincere efforts to do his will.

Well it helped him understand how Jehovah really sees him. He as our creator he knows our weaknesses, motives and intentions and he knows our history. But just like the runner in the example, he fell, stumbled, but got up. By meditating on this example, it helped him regain his self-esteem, then the brother says that it helped him significantly to understand that Jehovah does not focus only on his mistakes, as happened with Jehoshaphat, but also remembers his faithful service and can see his potential and effort sincere for being faithful and doing his will.

This encourages us and reminds us that Jehovah analyzes each case individually. In the Bible it shows that Jehovah did not act with everyone in the same way, and that Jehovah can see the heart, he can see who really has something good in his heart. Let us remember that Pharaoh was king of Egypt, Jehovah did not show him, so to speak, this same consideration, for this man he was still, he was someone wicked, proud, evil predominated inside him, it was his essence. But it was not the same with King David and with Jehoshaphat. So it is important to be honest, and of course we can encourage someone to change, perhaps in the past we were terribly wrong, but meditating on these examples can give us that jolt to repent from the heart and do things Jehovah's way.