Watchtower Study, May our love continue to grow, Week of September 18 to 24, 2023, Comments and Practical Answers.

Watchtower Study, May our love continue to grow, September 18-24, 2023, Comments and Responses.

“Let us grow by love in all things” (EPHES. 4:15).

1. What things did you learn in your Bible course?

Without a doubt, we learned several things that we keep as precious treasures. For example, apart from the valuable information that we found in our publications, something very important that we learned is to know that there is a creator who has a personal name, has qualities, and we also learned that what we do or do not do has a positive effect. or negative. We also learned that there are promises in the Bible, promises like a new world or a new life in a new system, the ransom and the resurrection of the dead, these are the columns or foundations of our faith.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

One of the most important things was that I found out that God had a name too, it reassured me to know that there was no hell where God torments people and I was also very excited to learn that the loved ones we have lost will come back to life. in Paradise.

Personally, as a child, I was very concerned about what happened to the dead when they died and the fact of knowing that when one dies, they are dead and nothing more happened because it calmed me a lot as a child and helped me progress.

2. In addition to learning Bible truths, in what other ways did you show that you were making progress? (Ephesians 5:1, 2).

Well, one way was and still is, by practicing what one learns from the Bible, to avoid bad friendships. avoid foul words, harmful practices, and avoid certain behavior that in the light of the Bible is what is called serious sin in the sight of God, and this leads us to make good decisions and of course, as Ephesians 5:1 says, imitate God as beloved children says the text, how do we imitate him if we cannot see him, well we have the qualities of God in the Bible which helps us cultivate the fruit of the spirit in our personal life.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, the love I felt for Jehovah grew and what this did was motivate me to put into practice the things I was learning and in turn, over time, when important decisions had to be made, I based them on biblical principles.

As one reads the Bible and prays to Jehovah and tries to imitate his great qualities, a very important love grows. In parallel, this love motivates us to respect and obey him and to comply with his rules, as Hebrew 4:12 says, the word of God is alive and act with power.

And this text shows that when we imitate Jehovah's actions and show love, it is a sweet aroma to God, then it means that our way of acting and thinking pleases Jehovah.

3. What questions could we ask ourselves?

Let's think today, today, at this moment, Do I love Jehovah more now than when I was baptized? That is a very deep, very personal question. Is my way of thinking and acting more like Jehovah's, especially when showing love to the brothers in the congregation? Those are very good questions.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

To understand it better, we can do an example: When a vehicle undergoes a restoration, is there an image of how it was before and how it is after? and the ideal, the normal thing is that before it was bad, and then it was better. This is expected to happen to us, being in the congregation, when we were baptized before we were bad, but now we are better, not the other way around. So if we have cooled down a bit, all is not lost. Let's not get discouraged, because we can do something about it.

And we see that it is not something new that also happened to some Christians, such as the congregation of Ephesus to whom Jesus had to tell that he had something against them that they had lost the love they had at the beginning, that is why our love Because of Jehovah and because of the truth it has cooled, it is not because Jehovah has changed because he never changes. We must meditate and reflect on what we have changed in order to be able to change.

Just as Jesus did not consider the case of the Christians of Ephesus lost, the same thing happens with us, he knows that we can rekindle the love we had at the beginning.

4. What will we see in this article?

First: How we can grow our love for Jehovah and our neighbors. Second: We will talk about how we and other people benefit when we do it. 

LET US STRIVE TO GROW OUR LOVE FOR JEHOVAH

5, 6. a) What challenges did the apostle Paul face in his ministry?

The apostle Paul often traveled long distances, even though the journeys were not easy. And as the cited text mentions, when traveling he sometimes saw danger because of rivers and was in danger because of thieves. And sometimes his enemies did not mistreat him, and if that were not enough, his Christian brothers did not always appreciate the efforts he made to help them.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, there will be someone who thinks, don't worry Pablo, we are not in a competition, you don't have to compare yourself or feel more than others. In reality, the Apostle Paul, here is writing what he experienced and it was clear that not everyone had suffered what he suffered and he says it in his letters about all these sufferings and imprisonments that he had to face. There it says that he suffered five times from the Jews, 40 blows except one and mentions that he was beaten with rods three times, they stoned him, he was shipwrecked once, three times a night and a day at sea, many trips, many dangers, thieves , in danger from his own people.

Philippians 4:15, this may sound like a complaint to some and they could possibly have said, it's not that Paul is being oversensitive, he's taking it all personally, because when someone highlights what was suffered, that could be said, but In reality we see what the Philippians say to him: "You Philippians heard the message for the first time and no congregation participated with me in giving." Let's not think that everything was rosy, that everything was traveling on first-class ships and with the funds of the congregation, because it was the privilege he had. Since it was his turn to literally open the gap. The apostle Paul had to deal with and experience these types of challenges.

There were different challenges but I think something that was very valuable for him were the negative words of his brothers because according to 2 Corinthians 10 verse 10, the mottos they have said, their letters are weighty and energetic but their presence is weak and their way of speaking is despicable.

Another of the challenges he had is that he had to make trips that were long and that were not easy because he even put himself in danger when he had to cross rivers also from thieves and he even suffered mistreatment from enemies.

5, 6. b) What prompted you to continue serving Jehovah?

He was convinced that Jehovah loved him, and for his part Paul came to love him very much and demonstrated that love by serving the saints and continuing to serve them.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Let us remember that the one who commissioned the Apostle Paul was our Lord Jesus Christ, he appeared to him and had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Then the Bible says that the Apostle Paul had the Holy Spirit upon him. At specific times angels appeared to him to give him guidance, at other times the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him and gave him instructions. In the book of Acts we can see how he says that the Lord appeared to him and encouraged him, gave him breath. Therefore, that encouragement and guidance from Jesus Christ prompted him to continue serving Jehovah.

Paul understood that the tests to enter the Kingdom had to be through many tribulations, he knew that Jehovah loved him that Jesus Christ loved him, there were brothers who also loved him, although not all of them knew it. And well, he also loved Jehovah, loved Jesus Christ and loved his brothers and that is why he came to say in the book of Corinthians that the love of Christ obliges us. What does it force us to do? According to Corinthians 5:14 and 15, the apostle Paul said that the love of Christ forces us. It means that if our Lord Jesus Christ endured to the end, something similar to Paul, he suffered betrayals, signs of enmity. They didn't love him, they attacked him, they slandered him, they didn't help him, they missed him, they despised him. But he continued until the end, he was able to get off the Path and return to heaven, he did not need to experience that type of humiliation, But he endured until the end, that's why Paul said the love of Christ compels me. So that also prompted Paul to continue serving Jehovah to not give up in his race for eternal life.

Well, it helped him that he had learned about Jehovah through the scriptures. He himself wrote in Romans 8:38 and 39 that he was convinced that absolutely nothing could separate him from the love of God that is in the Christ.

What Paul knew was that Jehovah never stops loving us. We are the ones who can distance ourselves from Jehovah. For example, I always imagine Jehovah as a father with open arms. If we leave, if we distance ourselves from him, it is our problem, not that Jehovah. take us away

Yes Hebrew 6:10 shows that Jehovah is very aware of everything we have done for him so we do well to ask ourselves if we are aware of everything he has done for us, without a doubt Paul was a great example of this because he meditated with regularity in how Jehovah had helped him in the past and if we copy his example it will undoubtedly help us to continue serving Jehovah.

Another thing that convinced Paul to continue serving Jehovah is the fact that what Romans 2:4 and 5 says, knowing that Jehovah had given his son for him then filled him with love and gratitude and that motivated him to continue serving him.

And the challenges that we have seen before could have greatly discouraged him from continuing with his work because not even his brothers seemed to appreciate that, but as the Hebrews show, he knew the personality of Jehovah and knew that all the efforts that Jehovah was making to him were highly valued.

7. What will help our love for Jehovah grow?

What will help our love for Jehovah grow is reading, meditating, and meaningfully studying the Bible. This will help us discover what each passage teaches us about Jehovah. And something that will also help us is to ask ourselves: How do these verses show that Jehovah loves me? And what reasons do they give me to love Jehovah?

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, several things, one of them is also what we have in our hearts. We have to be honest and really think about our reasons, because we are here. We really love Jehovah, if so, we are not going to allow anything or anyone to distance us from Jehovah and make us doubt Him, that is why it is important to take care of what we put or allow to enter our minds.

Well, for example, when studying his word in the Bible and reading it, examine it carefully and try to discover what each passage teaches us about Jehovah.

If some brothers or sisters have written these two questions to themselves when they do their personal reading of the Bible, it gives us an objective to read the Bible, it is like searching for those hidden gems in the reading we are reading. How does Jehovah show that he loves me and how does this That I love Jehovah, keeping this in mind is going to help us and greatly enrich our reading of the Bible.

8. How does prayer help develop the love we feel for God?

It helps a lot, since we will begin to depend on Jehovah in a more personal way, we will see how he answers our prayers because we are obeying his commandments and doing what pleases him.

And prayer is like a call in which we are making Jehovah and then he responds and we receive answers, which helps a lot. So by having that direct communication with Jehovah we will begin to depend on him in a more personal way, and a direct communion with him will develop. Thus we will see how Jehovah listens to our prayers and answers them, answers our specific requests, sometimes at the same moment, other times later, and other times they will be paused, because we are obeying his commandments and doing what pleases him.

In Psalm 25:45 the Psalmist wrote, he said: “Make known to me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Make me walk in your truth and teach me, because you are my God of salvation, all day long I have my hope in you. By putting our hope in God all day we will develop that level of trust with prayer. But imagine there are people who start their day and the first thing they do is watch the news, others watch immoral content, or text and just as they start and end the day and God does not exist for them. Only when they have some need do they remember God, but generally God is out of their lives. Well, we don't want to imitate that way of being.

Opening our hearts to him in prayer and having him answer them will help us see that we are also important to him and this will make our love for him grow and give us the desire to do what pleases him.

For me, knowing that I could express myself in my prayers helped me a lot to love Jehovah because before knowing the truth it was like repeating the prayers by heart and it was clear that those prayers did not come from the heart.

And it is very true that as we see how Jehovah answers our prayers our love grows but that makes me think then also how are my prayers are general thank you for everything help me in everything or am I specific and I really pour out my heart to him because if I pour out my heart then specifically I am going to see the answer to that prayer.

How curious it is that, as this sister relates, she says that at first she loved Jehovah only because of what she knew about him, but that as she prayed to Jehovah and grew, that love connected him with the desire to do what he wanted from her. The things that please him then that also helps me to see that the more I pray to Jehovah and the more I put my life in harmony, the more Jehovah will like it too.

LET US STRIVE TO GROW OUR LOVE FOR OUR NEIGHBOR

9. What example of love for the brothers did Timothy give?

Timothy had an outstanding attitude, and he cared wholeheartedly about serving his brothers. Paul did not highlight Timothy's ability to organize things or give speeches. Since it is obvious that what mattered or impressed him most about him was how much his brothers loved him.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

He is highly recommended, even though he did not have a Christian father, his mother was a believer, but his father was not, he, being young, had a very exemplary attitude in the congregation, it is an attitude that attracted attention, a good attitude. Nowadays we can realize the attitude of people, the attitude of young people when we leave our home, we can perceive their attitude, without a single word it is felt, it is perceived. Timothy had an attractive attitude, charisma and his way of treating others. The Bible says he cared from the bottom of his heart to help his brothers.

So Paul did not highlight Timothy's intellectual ability or for giving such outstanding speeches or for his organizing qualities, but rather for how he served the brothers. It is evident that what was most impressive was how much he loved the brothers, surely the congregations could not wait for him to visit them after Timothy as their traveler. Since Timothy was a traveler with whom one would not have felt the three or four years of staying at a circuit, one would have become so attached to him that we would not feel the time and we would not have wanted him to leave the circuit.

He was a young man who loved Jehovah very much and also his brothers, which is why Paul could say about him in Philippians 2:20 that there was no one with an attitude like his, someone who sincerely cared about the congregations for the brothers in the congregations. So we see that Paul was impressed not by being an eloquent speaker or by highlighting other abilities that were more attractive, but really by the love he felt for others.

And the paragraph contrasts this with another statement that could have been his ability to organize things or give speeches because he ended up being a salesman and surely he also stood out in this, but how nice it is that Pablo notices how much he loved his brothers, how nice for us too, not That someone who describes us comes above all how much I love the brothers, that is why the paragraph concludes by saying that the congregations surely couldn't wait for me to visit them.

10. How did Anna and her husband show love for their siblings?

Anna who we spoke to last week, she said that they were assigned as Missionaries in Africa and that they contacted the brothers they wanted to meet them and she said why she did it, why she remembered how the brothers had been loving to her and her family and now she I wanted to repeat that action with others, I not only wanted to receive, but I also wanted to share. Then in the place where they were, there was a terrible storm, they went to visit some brothers whose roof fell off their house, they did not have clean clothes to wear. So what they did is they took the clothes, washed them and returned them ironed and folded, what they did was nothing out of this world, but thanks to that gesture they have a friendship with those brothers. It was her love that motivated her and her husband to give practical help to the brothers.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Here it is placed again at the end of paragraph 10, the first text of John 3:17 and 18, there are already two studies in a row, the example and the text are cited. And part of the text says someone has the positions of this world and sees that his brother is in need, but he refuses to show compassion, the love of God cannot remain in him. Little children, let us not love with words or with lip service but with deeds and truth. Well then, this text teaches us that it doesn't matter if we have a little or a lot, we can help our brothers with our actions. Jehovah wants us to love each other not only with words, but also with actions, on an individual level we can strive to be different from the people in this system, we can make a difference. We are not going to change the world, but we are going to make Jehovah and our loved ones happy. siblings.

Yes, well, they went to visit a family of brothers and since they saw that their roof had fallen in, they had no clean clothes or anything to wear, so the great little gesture was that we took those clothes, they say, they washed them and returned them ironed and dubbed.

And although words are important and telling each other that we love each other is important, but here we also learn the importance of giving practical help when necessary and we don't have to wait for someone's roof to fall off the house, we can be observers and see the needs that we have. our brothers have punctually and if it is in our power to help them we want to do so.

Yes, we can imagine how one feels when one does these things for others, the other brothers, that sense of satisfaction of achieving happiness, but it does not end there because Hebrews 13:16 says that these sacrifices are very pleasing to God, so That is an additional important reason to demonstrate this love with our brothers.

11. a) What effect do our displays of love usually have?

We may never know how much others appreciate our acts of kindness. However, this can motivate, encourage, inspire someone who is going through a bad time, perhaps Jehovah will use us to answer someone's prayers for help.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We should not worry if others do not appreciate our good actions, perhaps they will not even thank us, but this should not make us think that everyone is like that and that it is not worth helping others.

When we focus when we make an effort to treat others with love, our efforts do not go unnoticed, although sometimes we are not aware of it. A sister named Kan says that she fondly remembers all the brothers who helped her preach that the They invited her to eat or took her home, although some of the brothers who helped her are not aware of all the good they did her. Yes

And furthermore, the reality is that the affection that we show may be better if we are not thanked because honestly one does not say thank you one by one even because as the sister mentions, perhaps we do not even know where she lives but we do remember that gesture. that they showed for that, regardless of whether they thank us or not, continuing to show affection will have a good effect.

11. b) According to Proverbs 19:17, how does Jehovah react when we show love to our neighbors?

Jehovah knows every action we have done for others, it is like an outstanding debt that promises to reward whoever performs it. That is why we must thank and share with those who have helped us, even asking Jehovah for them. Jehovah notices even the smallest acts of kindness. This motivates us to think about whether we can strive to love others more, as this will eventually come back to us.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

If we notice the text we can see that, Jehovah is writing a book before him regarding each of us individually, and it says Jehovah is seeing if compassion is being shown to the needy, to the widow, to the orphans, to those who are not They have a job, at the moment they are sick, they are going through an economic crisis, we can help them with whatever we can, it can be a word of encouragement and if it is within our power to help them financially we can do it, and the text mentions that if we are doing it it is like that he was making a loan to Jehovah. Let's imagine that it is not Jehovah who is lending to us, we are making a loan to Jehovah, imagine what this Proverb says, you are lending to him, and in return he says Jehovah will reward you, for that, so if some do not thank you, do not let's worry,

So this motivates us to ask ourselves this question: Can I strive to love others a little more? Yes, because this will eventually come back to us, it will come back to us. So let's not worry if others are not grateful, what we should worry about is what we are giving, because that will come back to us.

As we have just read in proverbs, Jehovah will reward you because he will not only pay attention to the great acts that we have done of kindness to our brothers, but he will also pay attention to the smaller ones that we do, because Jehovah sees it as a valuable sacrifice and It is a debt that remains outstanding with us.

I quite like this because Jehovah has everything, he needs absolutely nothing and he is the creator of everything, he can do whatever he wants and that with a simple act of kindness of helping a brother, Jehovah feels indebted to us. It means how much he values ​​that action we are doing and that personally drives me to continue doing it as much as I can.

And I really like what this sister says. Khan says that I wish I could return everyone's favors. But she says, I can't, but Jehovah does know and I ask him to reward her for me.

12. How can baptized men show love to the congregation? (See also images).

Providing help or being available for any need within the congregation. As we can see in the paragraph, a young man named Jordan asked an elder what he could do to help the brothers more, well the elder suggested that he arrive early to the meeting, greet those who are arriving, comment at the meetings. , preach regularly with the group, help the brothers with whatever they need. Since, as the paragraph mentions, when a brother is named a ministerial servant, he does not begin to help others, but continues to do so. Which means that from the beginning one must be available to provide help to others, since if he does it from the beginning it will be easier for him to continue doing so.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes, but first, the most important thing is always to have the attitude for them. Here, for example, the brother mentions the case of this brother, Jordan, who is called Jordan, and what he did was go directly to ask the old man what he could do to be able to provide this help, this old man gave him advice such as commenting more or arriving early to meetings so he could know more and greet the brothers.

And the paragraph highlights the importance of demonstrating that love to male brothers when it says at the end that when a person is appointed he does not begin to help others but continues to do so, meaning that before any appointment it is expected that any brother who wants to aspire to That shows that love for his brothers.

ILLUSTRATION

And in the illustrations you can see how this brother put the practical suggestions that were given to him, by arriving early to the meeting he was able to greet the brothers and also give his comment, preach with his group and look for practical ways on how to help another brother, who learn. Jordan's brothers in this case prepared him to accept more responsibilities but above all he developed an intense love for his brothers.

In illustration we can see a young brother looking for ways to help others, For example: In the first image we see that the brother is welcoming the brothers from the door and the other image we see the brother helping others with his comments and we also see him in the third image helping an elderly sister in a wheelchair in the preaching with the carts. And in the fourth and last image we can see the same brother visiting an elderly brother, who is possibly terminally ill. And the highlight of the images is that in all of them they are seen happy and enjoying helping their brothers, which is a great example for each of us, which encourages us to do the same in all facets of our Christian ministry. .

Images that show the spiritual progress of a brother. 1. The brother greets those who arrive at the Kingdom Hall. 2. he Comments in a meeting. 3. He preaches with the cart alongside a sister who is in a wheelchair. 4. he Visits an older brother who is sick. When we progress spiritually, we look for ways to help others. (See paragraph 12).

13. What helped Christian become an old man again?

Although it is true as the paragraph mentions, he felt very bad at having been discharged as an elder, he did not allow that pain to paralyze him. Rather what helped him is not giving up, since as he himself explains, he decided even though he was no longer old, that he was going to continue doing everything in his power for the love of Jehovah.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Although he was no longer old, he decided to continue doing everything in his power for the love of Jehovah. So over time he received his appointment again, but I could have thought if I had thought about it, they have already taken away my privilege, I am no longer going to help with anything, I am not going to show hospitality, I am not going to visit any sick person, I am not going to to contribute monetarily to the congregation, I am not going to support anything at all. Well if he had done it he would have closed the doors to his spiritual progress and opened the doors to bitterness, resentment and resentment. And when the opportunity came again, he was not sure whether to accept it or not, but he knew that Jehovah had shown him mercy and he returned to serve as an elder.

Although this brother felt very bad when he was discharged as an elder, he did not let these feelings discourage him but decided to continue doing everything possible to demonstrate his love for Jehovah by staying busy in spiritual activities. He received his appointment again.

Well, it teaches me that our service to Jehovah and the love we show to others does not depend on the capacity in which we serve in the congregation, it depends on the desire we have to do this and whether we are now serving in a capacity or not. Well, if we continue doing this, Jehovah will undoubtedly take it into account.

And this brother's experience also teaches us an excellent lesson and that is that the first thing to serve Jehovah with all our heart is to focus on the spiritual aspects. This brother focused on serving Jehovah with everything he could in helping his brothers in matters. that strengthened him spiritually and then came the appointment, therefore it is a very useful lesson for all men who are working to obtain more privileges in the congregation.

Any job or any appointment that can be achieved in the congregation, the true driving force of all this is love, so much love for Jehovah because we want to serve him and give more and love to our brothers, without love we really can't do anything.

14. What do we learn from what a sister from Georgia said?

We learn that what we do we must do out of love for Jehovah and our neighbor. Sister Georgia thought that when she preached it was out of love for Jehovah, but nothing more than that. But in reality when we preach we do it out of love for our neighbor, we want people to be saved, for people to have knowledge of Jehovah, and they do not want to, it is their decision, we respect it. And we do it not only out of love for the people of the territory, but also out of love for our brothers, since if we leave them alone, imagine it will be difficult for them to cover the territory.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

This sister says that at first the only reason I went out to preach was out of love for Jehovah, but she made her love increase again. She also saw that my love for people grew and what she did, because she said she tried to imagine what problems they would have and What topics might interest them, so this change of focus made him more interested in her, just as we see how Romans 10:15 says how beautiful the feet of those who declare good news are, there it was fulfilled with the sister.

And as Matthew 22:37 and 39 shows us that it is not only love for Jehovah that he himself asks of us but also to show love towards our neighbor, putting ourselves in the place of people who are not witnesses, trying to lend our help and making an effort in one special way to reach everyone also in preaching.

THE BENEFITS OF SHOWING LOVE TO OTHERS

15, 16. As depicted in the images, what benefits come from showing love to others?

It's like a domino effect, but in this case positive. So as we see here in the image, a good deed was done and this had a positive effect on more than 60 people, like a domino effect, one piece of love tipped and this moved 60 pieces in a positive direction. .

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Love is more important than knowledge and natural talents. There are people who have or have a wealth of knowledge, they are impressive due to their external appearance, but they do not have love.

So here again and the Bible says it in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, that one can have all knowledge, but if we do not have love we are nothing. A brother says that he was from the circuit who worked as a salesman and today he is no longer one, but he says that perhaps many no longer even remember him or his speeches, but they do remember the way he treated them or how they made you feel. The point is that the brothers are going to remember not what we told them, but how we told them, how we made them feel. So that's what remains: memories of how he treated others, how he made them feel, many brothers wonder if I treated them well, or if I treated the brothers badly. What memories do you have of me? bad memories, good memories, that leaves us a lot to reflect on how I am treating my brothers.

Their experience was a faithful reflection of what happened in the majority of congregations around the world. During the pandemic, selfless and patient brothers helped many older brothers to use electronic devices and connect via Zoom, and thanks to the love and to the love of these brothers because our elders were also able to enjoy spiritual food.

Thanks to this experience, Brother Paolo says that he learned a very valuable lesson that love is more important than knowledge or any natural ability that we may have. He says that he was superintendent and says that surely the brothers do not remember his speeches but surely they do What they do remember is all the practical help he gave them and the love he showed them, that is never forgotten.

And it was also not only the love that Pablo and his wife showed but also the love of that older sister. We have also seen it during the pandemic, that love that they had for others to preach to reach the rest of the people has made many older brothers They manage to use devices because they wanted to reach more people and perhaps outside of Jehovah's people, older people think that they are no longer qualified for new technologies, but nevertheless here, out of love, we adapt to all changes and all circumstances.

ILLUSTRATION

The image shows us how they are a sign of love that many people can indirectly benefit from and that is the example that happened to brother Paolo and his wife who, to help a sister manage a device that was very difficult for her without imagine that with that gesture of love many people could benefit because in the end the sister was able to have more than 60 people present at the commemoration, so let us always think that a single gesture that we do indirectly can benefit many people.

The image is very good because sometimes in this example it requires patience, it has been mentioned before sometimes because you have to explain things several times it does not work for me it does not work the tablet is broken and I start over but the brothers have not taken the excuse, look, since it's also a pandemic, if it doesn't look very good that they are outdoors, they have a mask, they have gloves, they already do their part, there are no excuses and they dedicate time to it, the effect that this works is what is seen after so many people attended , so we don't look for excuses but we try to help our brothers and sisters and we try to make it easy and show that we really love them.

In the illustration we can see that during the pandemic a couple teaches an older sister how to use their tablet, and we know that it is during the covid-19 pandemic because we see them outdoors wearing gloves and masks. And on the right we can see several small images that show many of the sister's relatives who she taught how to use her tablet, there they are seen connected by videoconference to her commemoration. This action shows how a show of love can benefit not only one but many people.

Series of images: 1. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a couple teaches an older sister how to use her tablet. They are outdoors and wear gloves and masks. 2. On the right are several smaller images showing many of the sister's relatives connected by video conference to the Memorial. A single token of love can benefit many people. (See paragraphs 15 and 16). 

17. Who else benefits when we show love?

We ourselves benefit, since we will acquire an experience that is only obtained by putting into practice what we learn in the word of God, the Bible, in our meetings and serving shoulder to shoulder with our brothers.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

This is a principle that is in Galatians chapter 6, whatever a man is sowing, he will also reap, this text refers to sowing with actions, since every action has a consequence, whether positive or negative depending on what our action was. This principle highlights that what one sows, one will reap. So it benefits us to give love, because this will return to us later, perhaps not immediately, but it will return to us.

Yes, when we show love we ourselves also benefit because we feel good and we know that what we do pleases God.

And that is what happened to this young Jonathan. He showed kindness to a pioneer who preached only on Saturday afternoons and then he wanted to accompany him but then over time he made a friendship that benefited him because it helped him mature spiritually. also enjoy the work of preaching and strengthen his friendship with Jehovah.

If we see that this experience shows that showing love to others has a Boomerang effect that really when we help others we help ourselves and that is in harmony with what Jehovah recorded in Proverbs 11:35 where he says that the generous will prosper and he who comforts others is comforted.

Something that especially catches my attention about this brother is that he did not like to preach so he benefited because he made an effort to go out on a day that was perhaps the worst for him but out of love he did it and the benefit What he got is that he changed his point of view towards preaching and ended up liking it more.

18. What does Jehovah want us to do?

As we already saw in this study, Jehovah wants us to love him, his son, and our neighbors. Instead of limiting ourselves to talking or studying about showing love, Jehovah wants us to take action, to shine our light through our actions. good works.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

The love of Christ forces us when we feel like giving up and no longer attending meetings, wanting to leave, wanting to give up. At that moment we must turn to see our teacher Jesus Christ in front of us, he goes before us, setting his example for us. And that motivates us and forces us, but it does not force us in a sense like force. But rather he motivates us, encourages us, drives us to imitate him, gives us courage. Jehovah wants us to take action, to move from theory to action, not to remain just in theory, but to action and to make our light shine through our good works.

Well, Jehovah wants us to cultivate love for him and for our neighbors and to develop that love for Jehovah we have to read his word, meditate on it and pray to him daily.

And to better express love for our brothers we must help them in a practical way by being attentive to their needs.

Well, we will have a stronger friendship with Jehovah and also with our brothers.

WHAT WOULD YOU ANSWER?

How can we grow our love for Jehovah?

To develop love for Jehovah we have to read his word, meditate on it and pray to him daily. Seeing how he answers our prayers, our love will grow.

Yes, one of the ways is through prayer. I think that one of the most beautiful things we can feel is to see the hand of Jehovah in our lives as he answers our prayer and to see someone real to us. That is why the more time we spend talking to Jehovah, the more we feel. We approach him and see him not only as our God but as a father and a friend.

And another step is to study the Bible and always ask ourselves how this shows that Jehovah loves me.

In what ways do we show our love for our brothers?

To better express our love for our brothers, we must look for practical ways to help each other, no matter how small it may be for Jehovah, it is very valuable.

Well, we saw that Timothy loved his brothers, we can imitate him and sometimes we have seen that there is no need for important or big gestures, but rather that with small details we can demonstrate that love and that later on it does not go unnoticed.

And as Hebrews 13:16 says, since we have to do good and share what we have with others, it is not necessary that what we have be very great or that what we can offer be a lot, but it is very important that we seek ways to help siblings.

What benefits are obtained from showing love?

The benefits are that we will strengthen ties with Jehovah and with our brothers. And we can also enjoy his friendship for all eternity.

Well, in the first place, Jehovah likes us, it is said that Jehovah considers it as a debt to us, therefore we can think about Jehovah how he is going to take care of us in view of this and on the other hand, we also benefit because we manage to have good friends and make friends. May the family be happy and united.

Our love for Jehovah and also our spiritual family will also grow and we will be able to enjoy a friendship with Jehovah for all eternity.