Accurate and Dependable Standard of Measure

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Symbol: Atomic Clock

Lesson: Standards for accurate measures are recognized as essential by humans.

Illustration: An atomic clock is such a reliable standard that it is recognized the world over as the most accurate truth when it comes to timekeeping. Human judgement is like all the home clocks and wristwatches in the world, each of which may be anything from “just slightly off” to “way off.” Is there a reliable standard for correct judgement? It would have to be someone that is perfect, not affected by the imperfections that exist in humanity. That person can be only one – Jehovah God. He is perfect and dependable in every sense of the word. If we “set” our moral clocks (decision making) by him, we will have the most accurate guidance anyone can have.

Notes: Why does this point need to be emphasized? Because men have setup all sorts of measurements by which they state mankind can guide themselves. There are also false clocks in the way of demons who now hide themselves in the form of space aliens, angels of light, or deceased relatives. By such means they try to convince the unwary that they are here to help. But using any of these alternate “clocks” (measures) will only lead to disappointment.

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Butterflies verses Caterpillars

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Symbol: Butterflies verses Caterpillars

Lesson: Do you promote love of life or hatred?

Illustration: Butterflies pollinate. Caterpillars defoliate. Butterflies spread the element (pollen) that encourages growth for the betterment of the environment. Caterpillars do little more than consume the environment and leave destruction in their wake.

Christ spoke of his followers as being the light of the world. With the “pollen” of our Kingdom message of hope, we encourage appreciation for life both now and into eternity. However, Satan’s world of humans alienated from God demonstrate their hate-filled destruction of not only this beautiful planet, but of all moral restraint. Satan’s entertainment promotes love of death and the “living dead.” Satan’s war machine promotes death and hatred. The news media knows that sensationalism sells. None of Satan’s ways promote life. They are the voracious caterpillars.

Notes: n/a

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Double Sin

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Symbol: Sneaking a Taste

Lesson: If we know some conduct is wrong and do it anyway, our guilt is compounded.

Illustration: A person walks in and immediately smells something delicious cooking. The cook smiles and says it is for dessert after dinner. The observer tries to sneak a taste and gets his hand slapped. "Don't touch that. You'll ruin it," says the cook. Then the cook leaves the room for a moment and the observer takes a second taste. The first taste may have been innocent enough, but now with the second taste, that person is guilty not only of taking something they weren't invited to try but also having completely disregarded the cook.

At Romans 7, we read the following:

8. But sin, finding the opportunity afforded by the commandment, worked out in me covetousness of every sort, for apart from law sin was dead.... 13. Did what is good result in my death? Certainly not! But sin did, that it might be shown to be sin working out death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become far more sinful.

Having the illustration of the person who snuck a taste in our minds, we can now appreciate at least one reason that the sins we commit are "far more sinful." Not only do we commit the sin, but having been informed that it IS a sin and committing it anyway, we add disobedience and pain God's heart with flagrant disregard for his feelings.

Notes: n/a

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Life Discoveries

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Symbol: Discovery & self-experience

Lesson: Being told the answer verses having “the light turn on” in our brain. The latter is more rewarding.

Illustration: Being at Yosemite and seeing Half Dome for yourself is leaps and bounds more awesome and impressive than seeing a picture of it. Experiencing the grandeur of our beautiful earth cannot be replaced with mere pictures or even videos. 3D / virtual reality devices try to bridge the gap but nothing beats actually being there. The same is true in learning lessons in life – whether it be the elementary learning we have in our school years, professional skills and appreciation of life, or the interpersonal skills we develop throughout our lifetime.

One skill a truly adept teacher has is knowing how to teach a subject (any subject) so that the student gets the thrill of understanding the subject as if they made a personal discovery. However, patience, skill, experience, and time make this form of teaching a rare commodity. Most people would rather just tell the student the answer, without trying to reason with them. Parents can start early by not being so quick to answer their child’s questions but instead helping them discover the answer. Telling the child will make them lazy. Helping the child discover will encourage their curiosity and invigorate their desire to learn. Making the process something the parent and child can do together, strengthens the bond between them. Children that early on learn to love learning will not need so much prodding as they progress through the school system.

But learning doesn’t stop there. Well into our adult life learning can be a rewarding and invigorating experience. Finding peers and/or mentors of the same mind will give a feeling of living a fulfilled life. Enjoy the discovery!

Notes: N/A

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Joy and Gratitude

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Symbol: Finding a dollar verses receiving a Gift

Lesson: Gratitude not felt by atheists and evolutionists

Illustration: If we find a dollar on the street and pick it up, we are likely happy that we found it, but since there was no real giver, we don't express gratitude. But if a friend gives us a gift, now both joy and gratitude are felt. Perhaps atheists and evolutionists can enjoy the beauties of nature to some extent. But those who appreciate nature is a gift from God have more than passing appreciation. The knowledge that our loving Creator made these deepens their love for him and they are grateful.

Notes: N/A

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I Am Strong Enough

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Symbol: Bridges and Dams

Lesson: Don’t say, “I am strong enough” to withstand temptation while intentionally exposing yourself to it.

Illustration: A bridge, that served vehicle traffic 40 years, suddenly collapses killing 13 and injuring many others. Although strong and effective for decades it finally succumb to a design flaw. A dam which served well for over 50 years gives way after heavy rains. Although providing decades of faithful service, being overwhelmed by assaulting elements (in one case) and finally demonstrating flaws in design in the other case, both these icons of strength gave way. Lesson: Never say “I am strong enough” to withstand the moral onslaught of Satan’s world. Although we may indeed stand strong for a long time, if we keep intentionally exposing ourselves to the temptations of Satan’s “elementary things of this world,” just as the rains overran the dam and the design flaws of the bridge gave way, the weaknesses of our imperfect flesh and the flood of Satan's enticements will eventually take their toll on our relationship with Jehovah and we may find our faith catastrophically wrecked.

Notes: N/A

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A True Friend Listens

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Symbol: Chatty Friend

Lesson: True Friends Also Listen

Illustration: Have you ever had a friend that every time you two are together, they dominate the conversation, not giving you the opportunity to say much, if anything, at all? It can be exhausting and eventually you will begin to wonder if you friend isn't a bit self-centered. You may also wonder if they truly value you as a friend or if they are just using you.

The same can be said of our relationship with Jehovah. We may pray frequently, but do we allow him to talk to us through our reading of his word the Bible? This reading should not be a rare occasion like a friend that allows us to interject a thought every so often. Rather, we should view it as children eagerly gathered around the feet of an interesting story teller at the public library. These children want to listen. Likewise, on a daily basis we should sit at the feet of our heavenly Father and "listen" to him as we read the Bible.

Notes: N/A

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Resentment Is Exhausting

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Symbol: Holding rock at arm’s length

Lesson: Holding onto resentment becomes exhausting

Illustration: “Pick up a rock, perhaps one that weighs just a few pounds, and hold it at arm’s length. You would probably have little trouble holding the rick for a short time. But what if you tried to do so for an extended period of time? How long would you be able to hold it—some minutes? An hour? Or longer? No doubt, your arm would become very tired! The actual weight of the rock would not change. But the longer you held it, the heavier it would feel. The same is true of resentment. The longer we hold a grudge—even a rather small one—the more we hurt ourselves.

Notes: For our good, the scriptures rightly exhort us to be forgiving.

This illustration appeared in a "Return to Jehovah," a magazine released at the 2015 District Convention. (page 8)

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Beauty Only Skin Deep?

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Symbol: Visually appealing food

Lesson: What looks good may not always be good. We may be attracted to a person because of their physical beauty. However, over time we may discover that their personality leaves a very “bad taste in our mouth.”

Illustration: Have you ever seen a table set with plates of exquisite-looking foods that look scrumptious? You try a small sampling of the offerings and like most of it, but then you find something that is so bad, you spit it out. I saw a movie once where, due to the confusion and busy work in the kitchen, the caterer accidentally took a can of cat food and put it on a plate, serving it as pate. The resulting comic scene was hilarious.

The same goes with people we meet. Don’t assume that good looks equates to good character. Becoming too quickly involved with such people can be emotionally disastrous. Getting married to such a person can result in a life of regrets.

In the case of foods you’ve never had, the safe thing is not to be the first to taste it. Watch and see if others like it. In the case of relationships, consider first what you know of the person. If nothing, take time to observe how they treat others. Are they sincere, kind, generous, humble, and selfless? At work, are they the “office gossip” or are they hard-working and “keep their nose clean,” (out of other people’s business)? If you are a servant of God, does the person you are interested in also display spiritual qualities?

Notes: The essence of this illustration was actually thought up by a teen named Marcus. His clear and simple illustrations are always a pleasure to hear and he always makes his point when he gives them. His appreciation for meditating on Bible lessons and principles is impressive.

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Use No Hooks

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Symbol: “Use No Hooks”

Lesson: Ignorance is no excuse

Illustration: Years ago, someone submitted to Reader’s Digest a story for the section “Humor in Uniform.” Supposedly during World War II, Japanese POWs were asked to sort boxes. (Whether or not the story was accurate, I am not able to verify.) Bottom line, there seemed to be some misunderstanding and after the boxes were sorted, it was discovered that the POWs had arranged boxes by “Use No Hooks” and “This Side Up,” along with other useless identifiers. Whether this was done in ignorance or cunning was not revealed. Bottom line, even if the POWs were 100% innocently following what they thought were the instructions, they in fact were not accomplishing the intended goal.

Notes: This well illustrates Jesus’ words at Matthew 7:21 that not everyone claiming to be Christ’s follower, no matter how sincere, are approved. In these cases though, those who wrongly thought they had done the right thing, went to extensive lengths to do what they thought they should. Just like Jesus they expelled demons, prophesied, and performed other “powerful works.” But that wasn’t what Jesus wanted. There were certain “fruits” (outward works) that would demonstrate “doing the will of the Father,” that they had completely missed. Jesus’ words indicated that he wasn’t amused and wouldn’t overlook their actions.

See this article.

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Knocked Down

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Symbol: Getting knocked down and back up

Lesson: Hits to our personal character and spirituality do not necessarily indicate the type of person we are. How we deal with them and recover – that is the mark of the person we are inside.

Illustration: Getting knocked down or losing our balance affects us all. When we fall it is naturally embarrassing. We tend to look around hoping that no one saw us fall. Children usually just lay on the ground crying because they got knocked down. However, getting back up and facing our personal challenges with determination, renewed vigor, and improved strength -- that is the mark of a grown man.

Notes: All of us are imperfect. But sometimes that dent in the armor of our character and spirituality can be embarrassing. Dealing with our feelings and facing the path ahead of us is the real challenge. Do not allow personal embarrassment or discouragement to keep you knocked down.

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Nail and Holes

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Symbol: Nails and Holes

Lesson: Words, like nails may leave long-lasting, sometimes permanent damage.

Illustration: The father of a son decides he needs to teach his son a lesson about anger and its effects. He tells the son that every time he loses his temper and says something unkind, the son is to take a nail and hammer it into an outdoor post. At first the son thought it was no big deal. He’d get mad just so that he could put a nail in the post. He used all his pent up energy to make sure it was driven in so far, it would never come out. But after a while, the son got tired of it and decided he was going to attempt to control his temper. After a great deal of self-control the son finally went through a whole day without losing his temper. He was so proud of himself he went and told his father. His father congratulated him, handled him the hammer and told him to use the other end to remove one nail. For each day he succeeded in controlling his temper, he could remove one more nail.

Months went by and most of the nails were removed except the ones the son had driven in so vigorously at the beginning. But finally, with patience and other tools, all the nails were out. In the meantime, the son had grown into a young man. After a few years he was finally able to go back to his father and announce that all the nails had been removed. Once again, the father congratulated him but this time the father asked the son to walk with him out to that post.

The father put his arm over his son’s shoulder and calmly said: “Each nail you hammered was because you said something unkind to someone. Those nails were like the stabbing and piercing words you used. Now, you have removed all the nails, but what do you notice about the post?” The son thought about it and said, “It is full of holes.”

“Exactly!” remarked the father. And even though you have stopped losing your temper, think of all the holes that it has left in the relationships you’ve hurt. Although you’ve made wonderful progress, there are always consequences. Some of those holes may swell shut with rain, but the scares will be there for a long time. Likewise, it may take a long time for the scars of pain to heal. Keep working hard to control your temper so that you do not leave anymore holes in the hearts of people. Although some holes you’ve created in the past may never heal, as long as you keep moving forward, eventually you will gain a fine reputation with others.

Notes: n/a

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The Kingdom Coin

The message of the Kingdom is a single coin. All coins have two sides. There is a saying, “heads you win, tails you lose.” Well, our heads are raised in positive anticipation in that we see the winning side of the coin—all the benefits brought to mankind both individually and collectively through the Kingdom arrangement.

But “the nations” see only the losing side, the tails side. The nations are angry because Kingdom rule means an end to their rule, their sovereignty as earth’s rulers. To them, the Kingdom message is only a “bad penny.” The positive side of fair and loving rulership by Jehovah and his anointed King, Christ Jesus, is not seen that way by them. It means they have to surrender their self-rule. So even the “heads” side of the coin, the side of benefits brought by Kingdom rule, looks like the tails (losing side) to them.

Dent In Car

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Symbol: Dent in Car

Lesson: Apology does not remove damage

Illustration: Traffic comes to a sudden stop and you inadvertently rear-end the car ahead of you. You both pull over and you apologize. However, no matter how sorry you are, the dents and damage to the other vehicle are still there. Similarly, when we speak an unkind word, even if we apologize afterwards, the hurt is still there. The damage to the relationship is still done. How much better to be both a safe driver and a kind person.

Notes: Heard at assembly in 2015

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Addressing God In Prayer

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Symbol: Prayer like a piece of mail.

Lesson: Prayer, like a piece of mail, must be addressed properly.

Illustration:Correct addressing is required by the postal service in order to ensure delivery. Also, it matters to the person the mail piece is addressed to, how they are identified. For example, when you receive a piece addressed to “Occupant” or “To Whom It May Concern,” are you likely to give it much attention? As for me, I know that I tend to throw out those items without reading further.

Now you may feel it is unnecessary to address your prayers to a specific name, but think a bit: Besides those praying to “Our Father,” there are some that pray to saints, some to “Mother Mary,” some to Jesus, and even some to their deceased loved ones—and all those are only considering the field of Christendom. In the much larger realm of non-Christian numbers, there are literally thousands of gods that are prayed to. Although Christians remember Paul’s observation that “there are many gods [that people worship], there is actually to us only one God,” Some of the tribes of the North American continent have numerous gods, as does Hinduism and others.

The Bible cites yet another god that most people haven’t considered. It speaks of a “god of this system” who blinds people to the message of the good news. Obviously that cannot be Jesus or the Father, it can only be Satan the Devil. Yes, Satan is the god of this world order, this system we live under.

With all those that vie for our attention in prayers, merely addressing our prayer to “God” is as much an insult to the one and only Creator, the one Jesus called “Our Father,” as it is an insult to us to receive a mail piece addressed to “Occupant.” So is the title “Our Father” the closest we can get to specifying which God we are addressing? No, referring to “Our Father,” there is a unique name in the Bible that is mentioned over 7,000 times. In ancient manuscripts it is represented by the Tetragrammaton.  In common usage today, that name is “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” or some other Anglicized form of the Hebrew word. So if we want the God that Jesus prayed to to listen to us, we need to pray to Jehovah.

Well, now that we have identified who we are “mailing” our prayers to, we need to use the correct address. By this I mean what Jesus mentioned at John 14:13,14. Yes, we pray to Jehovah, but addresses it through the postal code of Jesus Christ.

Last, comes the contents of the message. For those living in the United States, we all know how inundated we are with “junk mail.” For me, most of it never even makes it into the house. I walk over to the garbage bin and throw it out. From God’s viewpoint, are there such things as “junk prayers”? To answer that question, we first need to examine the model prayer that Jesus taught at Matthew 6:9-13. Note that the primary focus of that example, the things that concern God, should be our first concern—namely the sanctification of God’s name and that His kingdom take over the earth. Next is a humble plea for necessities of life, followed by a request that Jehovah forgives our sins JUST AS we forgive others. (Note that his means we MUST forgive others.) Finally, a humble request that God protect our spiritual relationship with him by protecting us from Satan’s onslaughts. Note that nothing in that model prayer talks about gaining riches, gaining fame, winning competitions, winning wars or anything else that is frivolous in God’s eyes.

So pray to Jehovah, through Jesus, and speak to him about the truly important things in life—things related to pure worship and anything that can affect our spiritual health.

Notes: Although I made major modifications to the original, still the original was not my idea.

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