TREASURES FROM GOD'S WORD: Week of October 21-27, 2024, Show Your Appreciation for Jehovah's Loyal Love, Prepared Talk.

TREASURES FROM GOD'S WORD:  October 21-27, 2024, Show Your Appreciation for Jehovah's Loyal Love . Prepared Talk.

Show how much you appreciate Jehovah’s loyal love (10 mins.).

None of us who know the Bible can deny that Jehovah feels a deep love for humanity, whether or not one of his servants. That is why in John 3:16 it clearly says that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” However, in this section of the Bible treasure with the title: “Show how much you appreciate Jehovah’s loyal love.” It is clear that we are not going to talk about the love that Jehovah feels for his creation, we are going to talk about the loyal love of Jehovah that he only exclusively directs to his servants, each one of those he has called. 

So let's get rid of the idea that we must show love to Jehovah, no, we are not going to talk about that, but we are going to show what Jehovah's loyal love is and how grateful we are, for that we first have to understand what "Loyal Love" is. A brief summary, 230 times the expression Real Love appears in the New World Translation, and in the glossary, which appears on the back page of our Bibles, it explains what it is: "Love motivated by commitment, integrity, loyalty and deep attachment."

It is almost always related to the love that God feels for human beings, but it can also refer to the love that one human being shows to another, of course, not to the same degree that Jehovah shows to us. This loyal love of Jehovah has a degree of intimacy, of affection, of feeling that is very, very deep-rooted, very profound, more than that which Jehovah feels towards ordinary humanity. 

Let's try to give an example to understand this. Generally, women feel an appreciation for children, they like to play with them, hold them, caress them, even if they are not theirs. However, it is very different from holding your own child in your arms. It is a different feeling, even if you like children, you love it, you deeply love your child.

It is not a perfect example of Jehovah's loyal love, but with this example we can more or less understand it. And, as the glossary said, it refers to love motivated by commitment, loyalty, and deep attachment. 

And when one becomes a servant of Jehovah, he has the commitment to take care of us, to caress us, to do everything possible so that, if something bad happens in our lives, he is willing to help us correct or recover from the damage we have received, like a mother who deeply cares for her children, although she also likes other children.

But that is the loyal love of Jehovah to his servants. The point is, how much do you love Jehovah for that kind of love? And it is that today a son, even if he has received many sacrifices from his mother, who has done everything possible to take care of him so that nothing major happens to him, there are children who do not correspond to that love, is that not true? Therefore, if we read in Psalm 100:5 we begin to analyze about developing our love towards Jehovah in correspondence with what he does for us, in Psalm 100:5 it says.

LET'S READ PSALM 100:5.

For the LORD is good; his faithful love endures forever, and his truth endures to all generations.

How nice it is to know that Jehovah has loyal love for each one of us, for each one of his servants, it is true that we sin. Sometimes we fail intentionally or not, but Jehovah is there to try to maintain that intimacy, that friendship, that deep love for us. It is similar to how a mother, perhaps the son says something harsh, inappropriate towards his own mother because of some discipline he receives, but, the mother is a mother and will forgive him, mother will say, he is my son, and will try to defend him as many times as she can, even if the son has behaved very badly. 

Jehovah never abandons us, never stops loving us, unless we say so, but he is willing to show that he loves us deeply, that he has a commitment to us, because he has Loyal Love. Isn't it true that we should reciprocate that love? But we don't just want to say it, we want to show it, like the love that a son says he feels for his mother. How do we do it? Psalm 101 verse 2 and 3 says:

LET'S READ PSALM 101:2,3.

I will act prudently and blamelessly. When will you come to me? Within my house I will walk with an upright heart. 3 I will not set before my eyes anything despicable. I hate the actions of those who stray from what is right; I want nothing to do with them.

 The text said, I will act prudently and blamelessly. And this text gains more force in our days, because it is so common to use hurtful words, even among family members, when watching violent entertainment, pornography, flirting, drinking or overeating. Verse 3 said, I will not set before my eyes anything despicable, and it also spoke of hating the actions of those who deviate from what is right. Who can be referred to by actions that deviate from what is right? In Psalm 101 now verse 5 says:

LET'S READ PSALM 101:5

He who slanders his neighbor in secret, I will silence. He who has proud eyes and an arrogant heart, I will not tolerate.

To apply this verse, we look at our image from the activity guide in Treasures of the Bible. There are many dangers here, especially slanderers, we are talking about apostates, they try to subtly get in to make us curious, through social networks, through chat groups, through their friend requests and we don't even know who they are. 

Sometimes, because we are in a hurry or simply because we have supposed friendships, we accept people of that type or we are in certain groups where they are apparently witnesses, when they ask very subtle questions to try to trap those who do not detect the danger. 

What to do with these people? Silence them, do not say things so that they do not bother us anymore, no, block them, that would be silencing, blocking these people, we will not tolerate people who despise Jehovah and his organization, who complain about the Governing Body, who try to make us think that what they say is correct, when we know perfectly well that it is not so.

That is why under this image in our Activity Guide, there is the question: Is it possible that the way I am using social media is affecting my relationship with Jehovah? Let us be careful, not to believe everything that seems innocent, in questions that they say they want to know in fake news. Let us not let the words of strangers make us abandon Jehovah's loyal love. Jehovah's loyal love is deeper than the love of a mother for her child. He has a commitment to us, and he is willing to fulfill it no matter what happens. 

Now, the point is, do I demonstrate how much I appreciate Jehovah's loyal love? Our life, both now and in the future, depends on that demonstration, on the practice of it. Do not for a moment think of leaving the arms of Jehovah, those arms that caress you, that pamper you, that protect you, that the only intention that our loving heavenly Father has is to fulfill his commitment, because he loves us and will do so forever.