MAKE YOUR LIFE SUCCESSFUL!

Why We Need God's Laws

The prophet Jeremiah wrote: "I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong.  It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step."  (Jeremiah 10:23) This is true of all humans, young and old.   Not only do we lack the wisdom, experience and knowledge to direct our own steps; we simply do not have the right to do so.  At Revelation 4:11. the Bible says:  "You are worthy, Jehovah,even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you existed and were created."  As our Creator, Jehovah is "the source of life."  (Psalm 36:9)  As such, he knows better than anyone else how we  should use our lives.  So he made  laws, not to rob  us of enjoyment, but to help us benefit ourselves. (Isaiah 48:17)  Ignore God's law, and you doom yourself to failure.

For example, have you ever wondered why so many young people ruin their lives through drugs, promiscuity and other vices?  Psalm 36:1, 2 explains:  "The utterance of transgression to the wicked one is in the midst of his heart; there is no dread of God in front of his eyes.  For he has acted too smoothly to himself in his own eyes to find out his error so as to hate it."  Because they lack a healthy "dread of God,"  many young ones fool themselves into believing that there are no  consequences to risky behavior.  Eventually, though, they have to face up to this unchanging principle:  "Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap; because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit." -Galatians 6:7, 8.

Next time: 'Counting the Days'

Watchtower, 1999