Wednesday, September 16

You young men and young women, . . . praise the name of Jehovah, for his name alone is unreachably high.Ps. 148:12, 13.

If you have cultivated in your heart a desire to serve Jehovah, enjoy the opportunities that come with being a young servant of God. Make choices that will enable you to enjoy serving Jehovah in these exciting times. On the other hand, what should you do if you do not yet feel inclined to serve Jehovah? Do not give up trying to strengthen your faith. After the apostle Paul described his efforts to pursue a way of life that God could bless, he wrote: “If you are mentally inclined otherwise in any respect, God will reveal the above attitude to you. At any rate, to the extent we have made progress, let us go on walking orderly in this same course.”  Continue to consider God’s love and his wise advice. Better than anyone, Jehovah can help you to make wise choices during your youth.

Commentary

These are exciting times.  We stand at the brink of the beginning of the end of this system and ultimately the revelation of Jesus Christ.

One of the more common questions I get here at the Watchman’s Post from Jehovah’s Witnesses and persons who are studying, is how to go forward in spite of the Watchtower’s error and the developing apostasy. In other words, how can a person progress in the face of evil? Wouldn’t it be better to get as far away from the Watchtower as possible?

In all things we have an example in Jesus Christ. In the letter that Paul wrote to the Philippians the apostle pointed out that Jesus left his comfortable place in heaven and forsook his divinity and came to be in the form of a slave, a slave who ultimately submitted himself to a torturous death.

While on earth Jesus was subject to the law – he being a circumcised Jew. Undoubtedly he attended all of the annual festivals required by the law; and although meeting at a synagogue on the Sabbath was not mandated by the law – it being a tradition that developed after the Jews returned from Babylon – nevertheless, Jesus also followed that custom and regularly met with his fellow Jews in their synagogues.  For example we read in the fourth chapter of Luke: “He then went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and according to his custom on the Sabbath day, he entered the synagogue and stood up to read.”

It was on that occasion shortly after he had been baptized in the Jordan and anointed to become the Messiah, Jesus took the podium and asked for the scroll of Isaiah, from which he read a passage foretelling his anointing. And after reading from Isaiah Jesus announced that the scripture had been fulfilled.

However, the Jews stumbled over the fact that they had known Jesus as a boy — as ‘the carpenter’s son.’ When he explained to them that a prophet is not accepted in his home territory they actually tried to murder him.

Although the Jews tried to kill him on that occasion Christ continued to teach. In fact, the very next verse states: “He then went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath and they were astounded at his way of teaching, because he spoke with authority. Now in the synagogue there was a man with a spirit, an unclean demon, and he shouted with a loud voice: ‘Ah! What have we to do with you, Jesus the Nazareneʹ? Did you come to destroy us? I know exactly who you are, the Holy One of God.”

Quite likely you have never been threatened with a violent death or called out by a crazed demoniac in your kingdom hall. But the time will come when Jesus said his followers will be thrown out of the synagogue.

Nevertheless, until then Jesus provided an example for you to follow.

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