"Jehovah Is Making an Estimate of Hearts"

What if it appears to be impossible to correct someone's bad impression of you?  Do not despair. Go on cultivating and manifesting Christian qualities as best you can. Ask Jehovah to help you improve where you need to. Your true value as a person ultimately is not determined by other people. Only Jehovah can make an accurate "estimate of hearts." (Proverbs 21:22) Even Jesus was held of little account and was despised by men, but that did not effect  the way Jehovah viewed him. (Isaiah 53:3)  Although some may misjudge you, you can "pour out your heart" to Jehovah, confident that he understands you , "for not the way man sees is the way God sees, because mere man sees what appears to the eyes; but as for Jehovah, he sees what the heart is." (Psalm 62:8; 1 Samuel 16:7)  If you persist in doing what is  fine, those who have formed a bad impression of you may, in time, realize their error and change their opinion. -Galatians 6:9; 2 Timothy 2:15. 

Do you remember Antonio, mentioned at the beginning of the article?  He mustered up the courage to follow Scriptural advice, and he spoke with his friend Leonardo, asking what he had done to upset  him.  The result?  Leonardo was flabbergasted. He replied that Antonio had done nothing at all to upset him and assured him that he had not meant to act any differently toward him. If he had seemed cool, maybe he was just lost in thought. Leonardo apologized that he had unwittingly hurt his friend's feelings and thanked him for bringing the matter to his attention. He added that in the future, he would be more careful so as not to give the same impression to others.  All tension simply vanished, and the two friends  proved to be just as close as ever.

It is never pleasant to feel misunderstood. However, if you take all possible  steps to clarify matters and apply the Scriptural principles of love and forgiveness, in all likelihood, you too will attain the same good results. 

Next time: OBEDIENCE An Important Childhood Lesson? 

From the Watchtower magazine, 2001