"Assure Our Hearts"

By the time John reached old age, he must have understood much about God's largeheartedness.  Remember that he wrote: "God is greater than our hearts and knows all things." Furthermore, John encouraged us to "assure our hearts." What did John mean by those words?

According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, the Greek verb translated "assure" means "apply persuasion, to prevail upon or win over, to persuade."  In other words, to assure out heart, we need to win our heart over, to persuade it to believe that Jehovah loves us.  How?

Fritz, mentioned earlier in this article, has served as an elder in one of the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses for over 25 years and has found that his personal study can assure his heart of Jehovah's love.  "I study  the Bible and our publications regularly and carefully.  This helps me not to dwell on the past but to keep a clear vision of our wonderful future. At times, my past catches up with me, and I feel that God could never love me.  But, in general, I find that study strengthens my faith, and helps me to keep joyful and balanced."

True, Bible reading and meditation may not change our actual situation.  Yet, it can change the way we view our situation. Taking thoughts from God's Word into our hearts helps us to think as he does.  Moreover, study enables us to grow in understanding of God's largeheartedness.  We can gradually come  to accept  that Jehovah does not blame us for our childhood environment, and he does not blame us for our infirmities.  He knows that the burden many of us carry-be they emotional or physical-are often not of our own making, and he lovingly takes this into account.

what about Margarette, who was mentioned earlier?  When she got to know Jehovah, studying the Bible was of great benefit to her as well.  She, like Fritz, had to revise her image of a father.  Prayer helped Margarette to consolidate what she learned through study. 

"To begin with I regarded Jehovah as a close friend, since I had more  experience with loving friends than with a loving father.  Gradually, I learned to pour out my feelings, doubts, anxieties and troubles to Jehovah.  I repeatedly talked to him in prayer, at the same time piecing  together all the new things I was learning about him, rather like a mosaic.  After some time, my feelings for Jehovah developed to such an extent that I now rarely have trouble regarding him as my loving Father,"says Margarette.

Next time: Release From All Anxiety

The Watchtower, 2000